WADAP stands for the Washington Dental Accountability Project.

WADAP is a patient-rights and public-accountability project focused on dental record access, transparency, documentation, complaint processes, patient education, and professional accountability in Washington State.

WADAP began from one patient's experience trying to obtain records, understand treatment, ask reasonable questions, and pursue accountability. The broader purpose is to help patients better understand record access, documentation, complaint systems, and the importance of accurate health care information.

WADAP is being developed as a patient-rights and dental-accountability project with the goal of becoming a nonprofit organization.

Unless and until a formal nonprofit entity is created and identified, WADAP should be understood as a personal patient advocacy initiative and public accountability project.

No.

WADAP is not a law firm. WADAP does not provide legal representation, legal advice, attorney-client services, or legal opinions.

Patients should consult a licensed attorney regarding their own facts, deadlines, rights, claims, defenses, litigation options, and legal risks.

No.

WADAP does not provide medical advice, dental advice, diagnosis, treatment recommendations, second opinions, or clinical opinions.

Patients with medical or dental concerns should consult a qualified health care provider. Patients with urgent symptoms, pain, infection, swelling, difficulty breathing, or other emergency concerns should seek immediate medical or dental care.

Dental records are not just office paperwork.

They help patients understand what happened, evaluate treatment, seek second opinions, file complaints, correct inaccurate information, protect legal rights, and make informed decisions about future care.

If records are missing, incomplete, inaccurate, delayed, withheld, altered, selectively produced, or difficult to obtain, a patient may be placed at a serious disadvantage.

RCW 70.02 is a Washington law involving medical records and health care information access and disclosure.

In general, RCW 70.02 addresses patient rights involving health care information, including access to recorded health care information, authorization for disclosures, and correction or amendment of records.

Patients should review the law directly and consult an attorney if they need legal advice about how RCW 70.02 applies to their specific situation.

In general, dental records may be health care information when they relate to a patient's health care, treatment, diagnosis, condition, records, or provider communications.

Dental records may include chart notes, x-rays, images, treatment plans, referrals, prescriptions, consent forms, billing records, insurance records, communications, and other materials related to care.

The exact scope of what must be produced may depend on the facts, the request, the provider, and the applicable law.

A patient should usually make the request in writing.

A written request creates a clear record of what was requested, when it was requested, where it was sent, and how the provider responded.

A patient may want to request records by certified mail, first-class mail, email, patient portal, or another documented method. Patients should keep copies of everything they send and receive.

Depending on the situation, a patient may want to request:

• Complete chart notes
• Treatment records
• X-rays, CBCT scans, photographs, and images
• Referrals and referral communications
• Emails, portal messages, text messages, and written communications
• Consent forms
• Treatment plans
• Prescriptions
• Billing records
• Insurance records
• Appointment history
• Records sent to or received from other providers
• Records maintained electronically
• Any records the provider claims do not exist, cannot be found, or are maintained elsewhere

Patients should tailor the request to their own facts and should seek legal advice if they need help drafting a request.

Washington law and dental regulations contain timing requirements for responding to written patient-record requests.

As a general matter, patients should document the date the request was received and track the response deadline carefully.

Patients should review RCW 70.02, WAC 246-817-310, and any other applicable rules, or consult an attorney, to understand how the timing applies to their own situation.

A patient should ask the provider to say that clearly and in writing.

If records do not exist, cannot be found, were deleted, were transferred, are maintained elsewhere, or were never created, the patient may want written clarification.

A vague non-response or partial production can leave the patient guessing. Written clarification helps create a clear record of what exists, what does not exist, what was searched, and what remains missing or disputed.

Start by comparing what you requested to what you received.

Create a missing-records list. Identify each category of records requested, what was produced, what appears missing, and why you believe it matters.

Then send a written follow-up request asking the provider to produce the missing items or confirm in writing whether the records do not exist, cannot be found, were not maintained, were deleted, or are maintained somewhere else.

Keep the tone professional and document everything.

Certified mail can be useful because it creates proof of mailing and delivery or attempted delivery.

Patients may also want to use first-class mail, email, portal messages, or other methods depending on the circumstances.

The key is documentation. Keep receipts, tracking, screenshots, envelopes, returned mail, portal confirmations, emails, and copies of every letter.

Keep the returned envelope, tracking history, receipts, and any postal records.

Do not throw anything away. Returned or refused mail may become important if there is later a dispute about whether the provider received or avoided a request.

A patient may also consider sending the request by additional methods, such as first-class mail, email, patient portal, or through counsel, depending on the situation.

Document the silence.

Keep a timeline showing the date of the request, the method of delivery, proof of delivery or attempted delivery, follow-up attempts, and any response or lack of response.

A patient may consider sending a follow-up demand, filing a complaint, seeking legal advice, or pursuing available legal remedies depending on the facts.

Patients may request health care information and records related to their care, including communications when they are part of the patient's health care information.

Whether a specific communication must be produced may depend on the facts, the content, the provider, and the applicable law.

If communications between providers are important to understanding care, referrals, diagnosis, treatment, timing, or documentation, the patient may want to specifically request them in writing.

A patient may ask.

Whether the provider is legally required to produce a specific category of electronic information may depend on the facts, the system, the legal basis, and the type of proceeding.

In disputes involving record integrity, timing, amendments, deletions, referrals, or electronic communications, metadata, audit logs, edit histories, access logs, headers, and transmission records may become important.

Patients should seek legal advice if they believe electronic source records, metadata, or audit trails are important.

In general, Washington law recognizes that patients may request correction or amendment of certain health care information.

Patients should make correction or amendment requests in writing, identify the specific record at issue, explain why it is inaccurate or incomplete, and provide the correction or amendment requested.

Patients should keep copies of the request and any response.

Document carefully before making conclusions.

Keep all versions of the records you received. Save PDFs, emails, portal downloads, dates of production, file names, metadata if available, and cover letters.

Create a comparison showing what changed, when you received each version, why the change matters, and what evidence supports your concern.

Patients should consider seeking legal advice if they believe records were altered, reconstructed, backdated, deleted, or materially changed.

Be careful.

Record-integrity concerns are serious. Patients should separate what they know, what they observed, what the documents show, what they believe, and what remains disputed.

It is usually safer and more accurate to say:

"I believe the records may be incomplete, inaccurate, altered, reconstructed, or inconsistent based on the following documents and timeline."

That is different from making a final accusation as if a court or agency has already decided the issue.

Patients may file complaints with the appropriate Washington dental regulatory authority if they believe a dental provider engaged in misconduct or violated professional standards.

Patients should prepare a clear timeline, attach supporting documents, separate facts from opinions, identify the specific concern, and explain why the issue matters.

Patients should keep a full copy of anything submitted.

Not necessarily.

A closed complaint may mean the agency did not open an investigation, did not find enough information to proceed, applied a threshold standard, or closed the matter for another reason.

Patients should read the closure letter carefully and ask whether the complaint was investigated, whether the provider was contacted, whether records were obtained, what standard was applied, and why the complaint did not warrant further action.

A patient may consider asking the agency for clarification.

Helpful questions may include:

• Was the complaint investigated or only screened?
• Was the provider contacted?
• Were records obtained from the provider?
• What information was reviewed?
• Who made the closure decision?
• What threshold was applied?
• Why did the complaint not meet the threshold for investigation?
• What reconsideration or appeal options exist?
• What new evidence would justify reopening?

Patients should keep all agency letters, emails, attachments, case numbers, and submission confirmations.

A patient can ask.

Whether the agency will provide those records may depend on agency rules, confidentiality rules, public-record laws, health care information laws, investigation status, and other factors.

WADAP believes patients should have a meaningful way to know what records were used in matters involving their own care and their own complaint, subject only to lawful and narrowly defined exceptions.

In some situations, patients may be able to request public records from a government agency.

Agency records may be subject to exemptions, redactions, confidentiality laws, health care information protections, investigation limits, or other restrictions.

Patients should make public-records requests carefully and keep copies of all requests and responses.

In some situations, a patient may have legal remedies if a provider fails to produce health care information required by law.

Whether a lawsuit is appropriate depends on the facts, the records requested, the provider's response, the applicable law, the available remedies, deadlines, and litigation risks.

Patients should consult a licensed attorney before filing a lawsuit.

No.

WADAP does not recommend a specific legal strategy for any patient.

Litigation can be expensive, stressful, time-consuming, and risky. Patients should seek legal advice before deciding whether to file a lawsuit, complaint, public-records request, or any other formal action.

WADAP may eventually allow patients to submit experiences involving dental record access, accountability, documentation, complaint processes, retaliation, abandonment, or related concerns.

Before broader submissions are accepted, WADAP intends to maintain submission rules, privacy guidance, review standards, and a provider-response process.

Patients should not submit sensitive information unless they understand how it may be reviewed, stored, redacted, summarized, or potentially published.

No.

Submission does not guarantee publication.

WADAP may decline, edit, redact, summarize, excerpt, or remove submissions for privacy, fairness, clarity, documentation, legal-risk, relevance, or editorial reasons.

WADAP is not intended to publish false claims, personal attacks, harassment, threats, or unsupported accusations.

WADAP may review submissions, documents, timelines, public filings, correspondence, and supporting materials where appropriate.

However, WADAP is not a court, agency, investigator, law firm, or adjudicative body. Publication on WADAP does not mean a court or regulator has found the allegations true.

Content should be understood as personal experience, opinion, concern, allegation, public record, litigation filing, regulatory filing, or documented fact depending on the context.

Yes.

WADAP welcomes good-faith corrections, clarifications, responses, or documentation from providers, practices, corporations, attorneys, agencies, or other persons and entities discussed on the website.

Providers may request corrections, provide documentation, or submit responses for review.

Provider responses should be professional, relevant, non-threatening, and should not disclose protected patient health information unless the provider has lawful authority to do so.

WADAP welcomes correction requests.

A correction request should identify the specific statement at issue, explain why it is claimed to be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, outdated, or missing context, and provide any supporting documentation.

WADAP may update, revise, annotate, clarify, remove, or leave content unchanged depending on the information provided.

No.

WADAP is intended to promote patient rights, accurate records, transparency, fair complaint processes, and responsible accountability.

Ethical dental professionals benefit from a system that values accurate documentation, honest communication, patient access to records, informed consent, continuity of care, and public trust.

WADAP's concern is not with dentistry as a profession. The concern is with systems, practices, or conduct that may leave patients unable to obtain records, verify what happened, or meaningfully pursue accountability.

Some pages discuss specific providers because they are part of the founder's personal experience, public filings, litigation history, regulatory complaints, patient-record disputes, correspondence, or public accountability concerns.

Where providers are named, the website should be understood in the context of personal experience, allegations, opinions, public records, litigation filings, regulatory materials, and unresolved disputes unless a final finding is specifically identified.

Providers are presumed to dispute some or all allegations, concerns, interpretations, or conclusions unless they state otherwise.

No.

A lawsuit is a public filing containing allegations and requests for relief.

The filing of a complaint does not mean the defendant has been found liable. Allegations remain allegations unless admitted, adjudicated, resolved by court order, or otherwise finally determined.

Lawsuit pages on WADAP are posted for public awareness, patient-rights education, transparency, and discussion of health care record access under Washington law.

Consider taking these steps:

• Make a written list of what you requested
• Make a written list of what you received
• Identify what appears missing
• Send a written follow-up request
• Ask the provider to confirm whether missing records exist, cannot be found, were not maintained, were deleted, or are maintained elsewhere
• Preserve every envelope, email, portal message, letter, and receipt
• Create a timeline
• Consider filing a complaint or seeking legal advice

Do not rely on memory alone. Documentation is the little lantern that keeps the path visible.

Consider preparing:

• A clear timeline
• Copies of records
• Written requests
• Provider responses
• Missing-records list
• Relevant emails or portal messages
• Photos or images if relevant
• Billing or insurance documents if relevant
• A concise explanation of the concern
• A clear statement of what you want the agency to review

Separate facts from opinions. Explain what happened, why it matters, and what documents support the concern.

Keep everything. This may include:

• Records requests
• Certified-mail receipts
• Tracking confirmations
• Returned envelopes
• First-class mail copies
• Emails
• Portal messages
• Text messages
• Voicemails
• PDFs
• Records productions
• Cover letters
• Complaint submissions
• Agency responses
• Court filings
• Billing records
• Insurance records
• Referral documents
• X-rays and images
• Timelines
• Notes of phone calls

Small documents can become large evidence later.

Written communication is usually easier to document.

Phone calls may be useful, but patients should consider taking notes immediately afterward, including the date, time, person spoken to, phone number, and what was said.

For important issues, patients may want to follow up in writing to confirm what was discussed.

WADAP is not currently a legal-services organization, law firm, medical provider, dental provider, or patient representative.

WADAP may provide general educational materials, templates, public information, and patient-rights resources.

Patients should seek legal, medical, or dental advice from qualified professionals regarding their own situation.

Patients should not assume that information submitted to WADAP is confidential, privileged, secure, or protected like communication with an attorney, doctor, dentist, or government agency.

Patients should not submit emergency medical information, highly sensitive personal information, another patient's records, or anything they do not want reviewed, stored, discussed, redacted, summarized, or potentially published.

Before submitting materials, patients should carefully redact unnecessary private information.

Avoid submitting unnecessary sensitive information, including:

• Social Security numbers
• Dates of birth
• Home addresses
• Phone numbers
• Financial account numbers
• Insurance identification numbers
• Other patients' information
• Unrelated medical history
• Unredacted signatures
• Private information about third parties
• Anything you do not want potentially reviewed or published

No.

WADAP does not replace an attorney.

Patients with legal questions, deadlines, potential lawsuits, malpractice concerns, privacy claims, record-access disputes, or agency issues should consult a licensed attorney.

No.

WADAP does not replace a dentist, doctor, specialist, or other health care provider.

Patients with clinical concerns should seek evaluation from a qualified health care professional.

Patients deserve access to their own records.

Patients deserve accurate documentation.

Patients deserve meaningful complaint processes.

Patients deserve to ask reasonable questions without retaliation, abandonment, stonewalling, or intimidation.

Patients deserve to know whether a complaint was investigated, whether the provider was contacted, what records were reviewed, what standard was applied, and why a complaint was closed.

Patient rights should be practical, not theoretical.

WADAP welcomes good-faith corrections, clarifications, responses, documentation, and provider responses.

If any statement on this website is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or missing important context, WADAP will review the information in good faith and update the site where appropriate.

This FAQ may be updated as WADAP develops, as laws or procedures change, or as additional patient-rights resources are added.