When Melinda Amourous arrived at Supercare Dental and Cosmetic Clinic in 2022, her upper teeth were slowly falling out and her confidence was declining.
It offered what seemed like the ideal solution: a mouthful of implants to give her a perfect smile.
The cost was $48,000, but they assured her they would help the single mother of four claim her superannuation with the tax office.
“I’ve never spent so much money in my life. I really jumped at the chance because it’s not something I could have afforded on my own,” Ms Amourous said.
Three years later, she has lost more than half her superannuation balance, cannot eat without having teeth extracted, bleeds from her mouth and has had to superglue broken temporary implants together so she can leave home.
“I’ve missed birthday parties, weddings, class reunions, all kinds of events because I absolutely can’t bear to expose myself to people and have them see me without teeth.”
Despite dozens of emails and phone calls to Kotara Supercare Dental and Cosmetics and its owners, Ms Amourous has been unable to fix the problem.
ABC News revealed Supercare Dental and Cosmetics is struggling to retain staff after repeatedly underpaying dentists.
Ms Amourous is one of hundreds of patients across the country who have received unfinished dental treatment at Supercare Dental and Cosmetics, who have paid millions of dollars upfront, according to creditors’ reports.
The NSW Health Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into the Kotara branch of the company after reviewing documents provided by Ms Amourous showing the standard of care she received.
“They were very, very unprofessional. I also experienced terrible physical pain,” Ms Amourous said.
ABC News has spoken to more than a dozen former employees and patients of Supercare Dental and Cosmetics after its two clinics in Kotara and Tuggerah and its associated entity, Usman Dental Pty Ltd, were placed into voluntary administration last month.
Late on Tuesday, the NSW Supreme Court ordered the winding up of Usman Dental Pty Ltd and appointed a liquidator to take over the company. A hearing will be held later on Wednesday to decide the fate of the Tuggerah clinic.
Supercare Dental and Cosmetics has three other clinics in NSW, in Penrith, Wilton and Corrimal.
As of last week, the company was still accepting new patient appointments at some of its clinics, although patients were still trying to get money back for unfinished treatments.
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