In a promotional video, 48-year-old dentist Sven Kalle, a seasoned professional with years of experience, showcased how modern bite correction works. It later emerged that the video was part of a flashy marketing campaign that tripled Dr. Kalle's clientele. But in the fall of last year, the doctor vanished without a trace, leaving behind debts to both patients and business partners and, most alarmingly, unfinished treatments.

"I paid my money in September and never received the service. Nothing. €4,000 basically down the drain. All I got was a treatment plan; the rest... nothing," said one of Dr. Kalle's patients, Katriine Laanjärv.

"On the one hand, he owed patients in terms of services. But he owed you money as well, is that right?" a journalist asked.

"Yes, absolutely," confirmed Svetlana Kolkanen, sales manager at Ordoline.

ERR investigative program "Pealtnägija" managed to reach Kalle via text messages. According to him, he is currently in a psychiatric clinic, saying his problems had spiraled out of control. He promised to begin resolving issues once his condition improves.

This case, which has drawn in over a hundred of Kalle's former patients, highlights once again how difficult it is for oversight bodies to intervene and for patients to get compensated when a doctor runs into trouble and loses control over their life. This is especially true in Dr. Kalle's situation, as he operated in a legal gray zone, offering orthodontic treatment despite being a general dentist.

"Dr. Sven Kalle was not authorized to provide orthodontic services," said Külli Friedemann, head of health services at the Health Board.

"It turns out that many other dentists in Estonia are also offering this kind of treatment, even though they are not orthodontists," said patient Sigrid Victoria Laurent.

Laurent, now 32, began searching for treatment to correct her bite back in 2022. Laanjärv, 24, started looking in early 2025. Both easily found Dr. Sven Kalle's sleek website, which described him as a veteran dentist who defied dental norms and set new standards for defining health, boasting over a thousand successfully resolved orthodontic cases. A key selling point was that his services were cheaper than the competition.

"The price was actually lower than others. That was definitely one of the reasons I was drawn to it — the prices were better," said Laurent.

"I was looking for a clinic to start aligner treatment. I started Googling and Dr. Kalle's clinic came up first. I checked the website, Instagram, Facebook — it all looked really nice, a good place to start. And again, the prices were great," said Laanjärv.

"It was super easy to get an appointment — really quick. I saw that there was an opening the following week or the week after. With other clinics, it could take months. This was also during the COVID era, so it was harder to get in elsewhere. And I really wanted an aligner treatment because it's not visible on your teeth like braces," said Laurent.

"Aligner treatment is essentially orthodontics used to correct bite or improve occlusion," explained Kolkanen.

"It's a clear plastic tray that fits over your teeth. It's practically invisible when you're talking to someone and each aligner puts light pressure on your teeth. You have to change them every week or two," Laurent added.

In simple terms, aligners are small plastic trays that exert pressure on the teeth and must be worn for at least a year. Each one is custom-made and must be regularly replaced. Ordoline worked with Kalle on implants and had also been producing his aligners for nearly five years.

"He was always very positive, pleasant, easy to talk to. Just an all-around trustworthy guy — it was easy and enjoyable to work with him," said Kolkanen.

While Sigrid and Katriine speak out on camera, dozens more have contacted "Pealtnägija" online or directly, all saying their initial experience — both with Kalle's office and his communication — was excellent. Legally, Kalle operated through his own sole proprietorship, renting space from other clinics.

Despite lower-than-average pricing, the amounts were still significant: Sigrid, who started treatment three years ago, was billed €2,500. Katriine's estimate came to €4,000. In a departure from typical practice in dental care, Dr. Kalle required payment up front, in one or two installments.

"There were two options: either pay half for the aligners and the other half once they arrived or pay the full amount upfront. I paid the full amount right away — just to get it over with," Laanjärv said.

Unfortunately, Katriine never made it to the treatment stage — by that time, Dr. Kalle was already in deep trouble. Dozens have reported that he started canceling appointments last year, stopped responding to inquiries and repeatedly changed clinic locations. Meanwhile, debts to business partners piled up. According to "Pealtnägija," Kalle's business left unpaid bills for everything from his swanky website to office rent and aligner orders.

"From our side, the issues started appearing around late spring or early summer. We began noticing delays in treatment plans and missed payments, despite prior agreements," said Kolkanen.

"As for where the money is today, I couldn't say. There's talk that he used other patients' money to pay off old debts. But he's denied that to some people. It's still an open question — where did the money go?" asked Laanjärv.

More than six months ago, a Reddit forum was created asking what was going on at Dr. Kalle's orthodontics clinic. It now has over 400 posts. In addition, affected patients formed a WhatsApp group, which has grown to include around 100 people.

According to Sigrid and Katriine, the group serves as a support network, offering advice, sharing updates and welcoming new members daily as more people realize they've been affected.

"For those in the middle of treatment, they can't reach Kalle — he doesn't respond to messages or cancels appointments at the last minute. People have scheduled visits and then the same morning or night before, they get a message saying it's canceled. Some never even received the aligners they paid for — same thing happened to me," said Laurent.

"The scale of it is frightening — it goes far beyond just missed appointments," said Friedemann.

So what happened to a doctor who once seemed exemplary? Kalle had already been on the Health Board's radar for other issues. "Pealtnägija" has learned that there were concerns he had been self-prescribing large quantities of medications and psychotropics, possibly contributing to his mental health issues.

In messages to "Pealtnägija," Kalle acknowledged a mental breakdown but declined to elaborate on what caused it. Meanwhile, frustrated patients are divided — some suspect outright fraud.

"I just don't believe anything he says anymore. You can't take people's money and just disappear," said Laurent.

Police records show that starting in 2024, there were multiple incidents involving Sven Kalle, including three DUI arrests and several detainments for aggressive behavior, some of which involved drug intoxication.

"What does this teach us? That looking up a business in the registry might not be enough. I checked the business registry in the spring and everything looked fine. Background checks don't always help. Maybe we need to rely more on platforms like Reddit — when people start reporting that a doctor has vanished or there are payment issues, that's a huge red flag," said Laanjärv.

What makes this case especially painful is that many patients paid thousands of euros and have nowhere to turn. Dozens contacted the Consumer Protection Authority and the Health Board, but the only real support has come from their public warnings urging others to avoid Dr. Kalle and find a new provider.

"The main issue is that treatment was interrupted — patients made advance payments and received nothing in return. And that's where the Health Board can do very little. Unfortunately, it's no different from paying for a sofa and having the company disappear. The bureaucratic maze is exactly the same. Sadly, healthcare services are no exception," said Friedemann.

Some patients, including Katriine Laanjärv, contacted Ordoline to ask whether their aligners were still there.

"I couldn't get an answer from Kalle on whether my aligners had been paid for. Ordoline told me they hadn't," said Laanjärv.

"About 15 to 20 patients call us every day saying they've already been to see Sven and ordered treatment, but when we checked our system, the plans hadn't been approved, meaning no work had started," said Kolkanen.

Sigrid was one of the lucky few Ordoline could help, as her treatment was nearing completion and only a few trays remained. But in many cases, Kalle had taken patients' money without placing any orders or making payments with Ordoline. He also owed the company for past aligner production.

"Aligner treatment is extremely expensive to produce. The production costs are very high. So it doesn't take long to rack up large debts. Dr. Sven had an average of 10 to 20 new patients per month, so the debt grew very fast. Patients have been trying to reach us by every means possible, but direct patient communication has never been our business model. We've always worked through dentists. But this has now gotten too big — it's beyond what we can handle," said Kolkanen.

Even the patient's insurance policy that took effect in late 2022 proved useless — it didn't cover Kalle's actions because, despite additional training in Italy, he is legally a general dentist, not an orthodontist.

"Patient insurance said they couldn't cover it because Kalle isn't a certified orthodontist — he's just a dentist," said Laurent.

"Dr. Kalle was not authorized to provide orthodontic services. We've since raised the issue that aligner treatment should be classified as orthodontic, but the Dentists' Association argues that general dentists can offer it under certain conditions. We need to resolve that now," said Friedemann.

As a result, no one has even begun evaluating whether the abandoned aligner treatments qualify as medical malpractice. There's an ongoing debate over whether only licensed orthodontists — those who have completed residency — can provide aligner therapy (as the insurance system, orthodontic society and Health Board believe) or whether general dentists may offer it as well (as claimed by the Dentists' Association, Ordoline and Kalle himself in written responses). In the meantime, patients are left without care or refunds and even those who scrape together thousands more to seek new treatment often find that other doctors are unwilling to take over someone else's half-finished work.

"It's a very difficult situation. We can't always assume that another doctor will interpret the patient's treatment plan the same way Dr. Sven did. A new doctor would need to start from scratch — new diagnostics, a new treatment plan and a fresh understanding of the patient's goals. So the patient would essentially be starting all over again. Continuing with the old plan is nearly impossible," said Kolkanen.

"The new provider has to reassess the situation — what needs to be done and what options are available. So for the patient, it's a completely new treatment relationship," added Friedemann.

"I've already been waiting so long just to start treatment again. Tooth movement can be very fast, so if you wait too long, you might just end up visiting the dentist every month without any results. I haven't even thought about the money yet — I've slowly started saving again," said Laanjärv.

Since he had no insurance contract, the Health Board suspended Dr. Kalle's business license at a few addresses, but technically, he could still work as a dentist at another clinic. The broader legal debate remains unresolved: should general dentists be allowed to offer aligner therapy at all?

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