What applies now for patients in Costa Adeje and the south?
The Vivanta clinic in Costa Adeje has been shut since 27 October, like five others on Tenerife, Diario de Avisos reports. Only a note hangs on the doors, saying the site is temporarily suspending its activity.
A QR code on the note leads to the company website, where it declares its insolvency. It hopes to sell the clinics “in the coming weeks” and asks patients for contact details in case they reopen.
The source gives no date for a reopening. There are no separate details for holidaymakers or newcomers, and the general advice from the consumer group OCU on treatment paid for with credit applies to all patients.
Which clinics are affected, and why did they close?
Six sites are affected: Tres de Mayo in Santa Cruz, El Médano, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, El Sobradillo, Puerto de la Cruz and Costa Adeje. Atlántico Hoy lists them under Vivanta Canarias, S.L. and writes that about 50 dentists used to work there.
A failed sale set it off. According to Diario de Avisos, the Donte Group's offer for 61 of the 124 clinics lapsed shortly before the closures, and it would have taken on 656 of the 1,335 employment contracts and about 30,000 open treatments.
The state industrial holding SEPI granted Vivanta rescue aid of 40 million euros in 2022, and the offer made no provision for repaying it. SEPI objected that a change of owner “does not wipe out the debt to the state”, and Brussels would have to approve a write-off.
The judge asked the European Commission, but no answer came. The insolvency administrators then chose an orderly wind-down to protect the last of the cash.
For the last week of October they expected a gap of about three million euros, because wages and social security contributions fell due. Diario de Avisos writes this citing their own forecasts.
What have patients already paid?
Anabel Vera Díaz paid 3,800 euros in advance and took out a bank loan to do so. She went to collect her next dental aligners at 16:00 on 27 October and found a sign on the door, Diario de Avisos reports.
She says the firm never contacted her. She asked for her clinical records, but the reply was that the company had ceased activity and she should contact Consumo (the consumer office).
A pensioner who wants to stay anonymous accepted an offer of 1,400 euros and paid everything upfront, also with a loan. She had two fillings and an impression made, then heard nothing for more than a month.
By her own account she must repay the loan until 2028. Vera says she knows of at least ten more cases at the same clinic, with treatments costing 5,000 to 7,000 euros.
What can those affected do now?
The OCU first advises gathering evidence: contracts, quotes, invoices, payment receipts, emails and adverts. A written complaint to the clinic's address follows.
Next comes a complaint to the regional consumer authority, and a report to the health authority if you suspect medical negligence. For the Canaries, Atlántico Hoy gives the consumer number 900 908 985, which could not be checked on an official site.
Anyone who paid by loan should write to the bank, says the OCU, and ask for the loan to be cancelled because the service was not delivered. If that brings no solution within a month, you can complain to the Banco de España (Spain's central bank).
Patients may ask for their clinical records and X-rays, which show what was done and what is outstanding. The Colegio de Dentistas de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (the dentists' professional body) stresses that the records are due within 30 days.
What is still open?
According to Diario de Avisos, the insolvency case is not quite closed. If the European Commission still approves the sale, new offers could come, including from the Donte Group.
Atlántico Hoy, however, names “Orion Bidco” as the bidder that withdrew on 22 October, so the sources contradict each other. It also says Vivanta Canarias is part of a mass redundancy of 670 employees across six group companies.
Not published are the number of people affected on Tenerife, a statement from the Gobierno de Canarias (the regional government) and a deadline for creditor claims. Whether patients there must register as creditors is also unknown.
The OCU counts patients as ordinary creditors and demands priority for consumer loans. Our research found no state compensation.
Is Tenerife an isolated case?
On 11 September the OCU reported at least seven abrupt closures: four in the Basque Country, two in Zaragoza and one in A Coruña. In Ibiza, patients reported open treatments worth up to 11,000 euros.
The Consejo General de Dentistas (the national dentists' council) compares the case with the collapse of iDental and Dentix, says Diario Estrategia. Its president Óscar Castro demands guarantees for those affected, legal protection for prepayments and a law against aggressive health advertising.