If there is a Small Smiles Clinic in your state and you are not investigating them, you should be. There is a clear connection between Medicaid Dental Clinics, Small Smiles and Kool Smiles. At the end of this article you will see exactly what the connection is.
Two Employees Speaks out about Small Smiles Office in Albany New York.
Video May Be Disturbing
Part 1 of Investigation:
CBS Channle 6 WRGB New Albany, New York, April 1, 2008
Picture a young child strapped into a dental chair, unable to move his arms or legs.
As the cold, metal instruments invade his trembling mouth, the boy's heart begins to race: 200 beats per minute. 225. 250.
Now, he's sweating, throwing-up and urinating his pants - frantically scanning the room full of masked faces for some sign the pain will come to an end.
But it does not. The dentist keeps on working
"That's Small Smiles," said Nicole, a former assistant at the Colonie children's dentistry clinic. "Don't bring your kids there."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, former employees Nicole and Holly detailed a list of allegations against the clinic and its lead dentist, Dr. Maziar Izadi. They include:
-Rushing through procedures, even when children are vomiting and urinating
-Allowing children's heart rates to go dangerously past 200 beats per minute
-Performing unnecessary procedures, such as placing crowns on baby teeth that are about to fall-out
-Needlessly placing children under a papoose board, a device that immobilizes their arms and legs
-Discouraging parents from sitting with their children during procedures
-Failing to properly sterilize instruments
"They were constantly pushing production," Holly said. "I think they do it so they can make a fast buck."
Holly and Nicole allege staff members, notably Dr. Izadi, earn lucrative bonuses for achieving certain production numbers - a claim the company denies.
Dr. Izadi did not return CBS 6 phone calls, and ran to his car when approached by CBS 6 reporter Steve Flamisch and photographer Chris Cornell in the Small Smiles parking lot.
A receptionist forwarded our call to Small Smiles corporate spokesman Don Meyer, who said that a review of 40 charts found that all procedures were "necessary and proper." He acknowledged, however, that the doctor who performed the review is a Small Smiles employee, and not an independent expert.
To be fair, Small Smiles did take swift action when informed of allegations that several employees may be using crack cocaine and marijuana, allegedly during their lunch breaks.A corporate team promptly flew-in from Colorado and drug tested the entire staff. Meyer confirmed there were terminations, but he would not say how many - nor would he say whether anyone had been tested at the time of their hiring. Former employees allege no one is tested.
A government source confirmed that state officials are looking into the list of allegations against Small Smiles.
The company's clinics have also been the subject of news investigations in Denver, Rochester, and Washington D.C.
According to reports, FORBA, LLC began in Pueblo, CO, then was taken over by Sanus, a holding company in Nashville, TN, but a large portion of it's firm would continue to operate out of Pueblo, CO.
Hmmm.. Isn't that where Michael DeRose, DDS, owner of a 3 million dollar home, who was fined $10 million dollars this week lives? Well, yes it is as a matter of fact.
Now isn't William A. Mueller, DDS an old buddy of Michael DeRose's? Well, yes he is, they co-owned several clinics together back in the day. Including Smile High Dental Clinic in Colorado.
Isn't William A. Mueller associated with FORBA, LLC from it's conceptions? Well, yes he surely is. see here . and here And look, a one Edward DeRose in with FORBA. This Eddy could be related to Michael DeRose, well I bet he is don't you?
And look here! See how many founders of Kool Smiles are formerly associated with Smile High Dental Clinics out of Colorado. Looks like at least two. Dr. Tu Tran and Dr. Tim Pham.
And look here. FORBA says he operates 42 clinics and has 750,000 patients a year.
And here is where we find ourselves at Arcapita, Inc. Arcapita Bank. Where it acquired FORBA for 435 million dollars.
I found this at topix:
I work for Kool Smiles, a sister corporation of Small Smiles and all I can say is that their "philosophy" is awfully confusing. They say that they do not NOT allow parents to go back with their children during treatment, yet when we had people from our corporate office visiting us one week, we were reprimanded endlessly for having parents in the back office and they even went so far as to have additional training for employees to learn how to "handle" those parents who want to accompany their child. We also have a consent form somewhere in a packet of forms that every parent is required to fill out every six months, that allows us to use restraint techniques, voice control, and hand-over-mouth on their children - if they are anything like me, they probably don't really read all of the forms they are signing and have no idea of what is really going on with their children in the back office. I can also tell you that it is not just done in the event of an emergency - it's usually done on smaller children who are afraid, and is used to control the child for long periods of time to complete the most dental work possible in the time alloted. I have only witnessed a couple of instances where it was actually beneficial for both the dental team and the patient. The majority of the time the child is terrified, screaming, crying, spitting, and choking thru the entire procedure, while the doctor and the assistant speaks to them in an angry tone, then is sent back out to their parent soaking wet with sweat and exhausted from the ordeal they just went thru. This whole practice is not only traumatic for the patient and upsetting to the parent, but nerve-racking for the dental auxiliary working on the child, which often results in poor quality dentistry. Not to mention the dentisit's they hire are usually fresh out of dental school and are not experienced enough to handle the fast-pace and large patient load demanded of them. I enjoy working with children and I love working with the under-served community because they really need the help and have little other options, but now that I'm starting to see and feel the other side of corporate dentistry, I'm really disappointed - even disgusted at times.
Awe. The Internet is a wonderful thing!
update 3/1/2010
Dr. Maziar Izadi is now practicing what he calls dentistry at Allcare in New York. Wonder why they hired him, he's a terrible dentist according to all reports.
8 comments:
i took my kids to small smiles last week and it was the worst experience of my life. I went in with my 3 year old son and he screamed through out the entire procedure. he was strapped down and by the time he left he had broken blood vessels all over his neck and face from screaming. the only time they stopped was to restrap him down. their grandmother went in with my daughter and when she came out she has broken blood vessels in her eye from screaming. i've been sick to my stomach over this since i left there. i feel as though i let these people violate my kids.
Dr. George C. Brain, the 'Nazi Dentist' Tacoma, WA
Dr Brain is a very poor excuse for a child dentist. We have an non verbal autistic son and he kept pressuring us to 'trust him' and 'let him cap all of his teeth to prevent future issues'. We had bad feelings when he refused to xray his teeth but yet want to just cap his teeth. We pulled our son from Mary Bridge in Tacoma, not allowing him to touch our child. This guy is like an old World War II Nazi Doctor. There is a reason he has been on KIRO and King 5 news. He is defrauding DSHS I'm sure. Stay away from this creepy, Nazi dentist. Just watch the Movie " The Dentist" then you will know. B E W A R E stay away from the 'Nazi Dentist'.
Could you give us a link to the story about Dr. Brian
Hi, I took 3 of my Children to Small Smiles in colonie. My daughter, 5yrs 0ld at the time had several fillings and caps all in one visit. They asked me about a papoose and I wasn't fully aware of what it was untill she told me ''mommy, I was a catipillar in a cacoon'' They capped a back tooth that later fell out. She has had her 2 front teeth bonded twice and they used so much ''glue?'' on it that when it was ready to fall out it took 7 months and was painfull to get out. She is now 7yrs old and still doesn't have a back tooth from where it fell out. My son had a few teeth pulled in one visit and was in extreme pain after his visit. He was given a space maintainer for the back tooth and it too fell out. I took him back and it was never replaced. I tried to accompany my kids in the room and was denied with both kids.
I will never take my children there again!! This is wrong.
My daughter has been going to small smiles in colonie for a while and has never experienced any of the papoose methods. She started going when she was 6 and she comes out excited and happy. She has never had problems with pain or teeth falling out. She actually thinks the needle tickles. She's had fillings and caps and none have fallen out. I'm shocked about all of this and I don't plan on bringing her back because although she hasn't had that experience, I don't like the sound of crackheads and druggies working in the healthcare field. Especially with my child. It seems that all of the bad things are happening to the smaller kids. I guess they think the kids won't talk. How stupid are they?
I am a pediatric dental resident and I am outraged at what these cooperate dental facilities do to children. I am usually for business but these unethical behaviors by these so called "pediatric dentists" needs to stop. I think it is time to make legislation to stop cooperate dentistry. Dentistry for kids is about the kids and helping them have a positive experience so they can continue throughout life with a healthy oral environment. Its sad to see that some have lost sight of this and are traumatizing kids to make a buck. Much of this is caused by cooperate dentistry telling dentists how many of each procedure they must accomplish and much of this is caused by dentists that have no backbone ethics and no heart and are afraid to stand up for what is morally right. In some states the owner has to practice a certain number of hrs a month at the clinic in order for the state board to allow the clinic to be open. I think this makes the owner more accountable for the work and actions that occur in the dental office. In cooperate owned dental offices the accountability is much less because the president of the organization doesn't even spend time at office and therefore has no accountability they are only in it for the money, this should be illegal. hopefully enough people will speak out and rid the world of enethical heartless dentists
This is the way I feel, WE, AMERICANS, need to see the business of Dentest and doctors as WE ARE HIRING THEM TO DO THE JOB! THEREFORE, MEETING OUR NEEDS AND THE NEEDS OF OUR FAMILIES must be a MUST! DOCTORS AND DENTESTS SHOULD OUT TO BE SEEN NOT MORE THAN THE GUY WHO COMES INTO YOUR HOME TO PAINT A WALL. What happens when the guy who was just hired by YOU do NOT meet your needs? HE IS FIRED! Well, if you HIRE a DOCTOR or a DENTESTS to do a certain job, and they are NOT meeting the needs of your family or yours, per say, then THEY MUST BE FIRED! And look for another one! The problem is that many insurance companies do NOT leave that lean away for us parents to have that choice! And that is when people fall stack to these ASSHOLES of DENTEST AND DOCTORS! So, in HIRING a DENTESTS or DOCTORS they out to work AROUND YOUR NEEDS NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! When these dentests and doctors DO NOT HAVE money because people begin to refuse to continue on business with them is when they will BEND their STUPID IGNORANT RULES! Parents, DO NOT take your child to a dentest or doctor who is asking you to step out! FART on their faces and leave! And SPREAD THE WORD AROUND TO OTHER PARENTS SO THESE BUSINESS WITH THESE FOOLS WILL EVAPORATE LITTLE BY LITTLE AND WE WILL HAVE A BETTER AMERICA!
Wow this is crazy I live in Pennsylvania an just got a letter from a friennd of mine about Small Smiles, but she didn't go into detail about what had happened. So I decided to look it up an I see all this information about what their doing to children. I have a six year old and a two year old who have been attending there since birth. I've never had such an experience. I never allowed my children to be treated without me present and have never had the staff tell me I wasn't allowed to be. I couldn't believe it when I heard all the news. My children seem to love Small Smiles. I'm kind of torn on what to do. Every time we go the dentist and staff seem very nice. But like I said I'm always present I don't trust anyone enough to treat my children without me. But this has made me re-evaluate taking my children there. They are the most important thing to me and I'll be dammed before I let someone do this to them. Even though we have had good experiences with them I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with taking them back.
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