Former dentist sued over sexual relationship with patient

A retired Winnipeg dentist who admitted to having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a patient is now being sued.

The former patient, a single mother of three, has launched a lawsuit against former St. Vital dentist Dr. Gary Levine. The statement of claim, filed Feb. 13, asks Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench to award her an unspecified financial sum, in part to cover the costs of counselling, medication and other medical expenses she needs as a result of Levine’s actions.

The legal action comes after Levine was fined $30,000 last year in a professional misconduct case by the Manitoba Dental Association. In those disciplinary proceedings, Levine admitted he took advantage of a “financially vulnerable” single mother and had an inappropriate sexual relationship with her in exchange for free dental work starting in 2005. Levine retired in 2024 and previously practised at Docbraces St. Vital on St. Mary’s Road.

In her statement of claim, lawyers for the patient say she has been unable to work because of the distress, anxiety, depression, nightmares and shame brought on by the civil law torts of “sexual assault and assault, battery and trespass to the person” they argue Levine committed, because the patient, her lawyers argue, couldn’t legally consent to sex.

When she first brought her son to see Levine for a dental correction in 2005, she was a health-care aide earning an hourly wage of $23, the claim states.

She was suffering from drug and alcohol addictions, which Levine knew or ought to have known, it says. They worked out a payment plan so two of her children and the patient herself could get orthodontic care, but Levine later complimented her appearance and asked if he could see her outside the clinic, to which she agreed.

They had sexual intercourse “in excess of five occasions,” and Levine waived payment for dental services after the sexual activity began, with the implication being that the fees would only be waived as long as the sexual activity continued, the statement of claim alleges.

The claim says “there was an unequal distribution of power between her and Levine; and she was in a vulnerable state at all material times, which rendered her unable to consent to sexual activity with Levine.”

No statement of defence has been filed and a hearing date hasn’t been set.