Texas State Dental Board says it can’t stop the dental abuse and Medicaid fraud until someone complains, well someone complain already! Here’s help.

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners
Texas Dental Board Complaint Process
Texas Dental Laws, Rules and Regulations

Complaints:   complaints@tsbde.texas.gov
E-mailing the Board:
Indicate the intent of your communication in the subject and body of your email. This will help prevent our Security System from flagging your email as possible spam and deleting it.

Ms. Abigail Gutierrez, Administrative Assistant
Phone: (512) 475-2019
Fax: (512) 463-7452
Ms. Erica Bommarito, Administrative Assistant Phone: (512) 475-1996
Fax: (512) 463-7452
Ms. Jennifer Carriker, Compliance Officer, Administrative Assistant Phone: (512) 305-8991
Fax: (512) 463-7452
Ms. Gutierrez, Ms. Bommarito and Ms. Carriker can assist with:
          Contacting the Director of Enforcement
         How to file a compliant or check on the status of an on-going complaint           Information about a Closed or Dismissed Case
          Board Order Compliance
              (For Conditional Dismissal Compliance - Ms. Debbie Powell, Legal Assistant - (512) 475-0982)
Other Agency divisions and contact information

Texas State Dental Board Information:
Phone:  (512) 463-6400      (8am - 5pm, Monday - Friday, Except Holidays)Main Fax:  (512) 463-7452
Open Records Fax:  (512) 532-0637Open Records Requests: openrecords@tsbde.texas.gov

Mailing Address:

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners
333 Guadalupe, Tower 3, Suite 800
Austin, Texas 78701-3942

File a Consumer Complaint with Texas Attorney General here

File a Medicaid fraud complaint with Texas here
Report the fraud, reap the benefits-share in a portion of the recovery here.
Write your state lawmaker here
File a complaint with your local District Attorney or County Attorney, you can find them in the phone book.
Don’t forget to follow up all complaints with further letters and phone calls. 

Small Smiles and Corporate Practice of Medicine

Cashing In by Cashing Out

Cashing In by Cashing Out–Small Smiles and the Corporate Practice of Medicine

Listen up!  If you currently work for a dental mill in any capacity this is a must read for you.  If you work for a “chain” dental clinic, it’s for you too.   It lays it all out for the “fake” owners and exactly what can and may happen if you continue to cooperate filling the coffers of Private Equity firms, like Arcapita and FFL.

Excerpt:     

…Children are strapped down to a papoose board to eliminate the time it takes to calm and reassure them before a procedure. Parents are banned from the clinic rooms because they might want to slow the procedure if their child is fearful or in obvious discomfort.

     Unnecessary procedures are performed because the corporation gets paid by Medicaid for every procedure performed, not just the necessary ones. And children get rushed, inadequate, and botched dental work because it’s faster than taking the time to do each procedure properly.

      As the blurred face of the stricken ex-Small Smiles dental assistant explains, it’s all about “production, production, production.” It’s a good mantra for a widget factory. It’s a torture sentence in a dental clinic.

      How are such practices permitted in this day and age? The simple answer is they aren’t –and haven’t been for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, the laws that prevent such practices aren’t systematically enforced, and private equity firms with desires for outsized profits are taking advantage of that fact. They’ve discovered a veritable gold mine in the systematic bilking of Medicaid for their corrupted brand of dental “care”. By inflating the profit margins of these clinics with shoddy and abusive practices, private equity firms can sell the business at an extraordinary profit, with the only fallout being traumatized children who are often too poor to seek recourse – or know that any is due to them…

Click here to read the rest of this brilliant piece!

Dentists Warn of Risks Associated with Sports Drinks

Yes, Church Street Health Management has found a new subject matter to comment on, in order to get press I suppose.

Dentists Warn of Risks Associated with Sports Drinks

1.  One of the founders of the Small Smiles Dental Centers was instrumental in  putting soft drink machines in our schools.  Dan DeRose

2.  Since Church Street Health Management and their illegal Small Smiles Dental Centers target the “underserved” (preferably Medicaid children under 10)I doubt those same individuals are heavy into sports drinks.

“As children of all ages engage in outdoor activities during the summer, there is a growing tendency toward the consumption of sports and energy drinks instead of water,” said Dr. Steven Adair, Chief Dental Officer of Church Street Health Management, which manages more than 70 dental centers for low-income families in 22 states.

Choking on the above statement-They illegally own and operate, not manage, 73 clinics in 22 states and the District of Columbia.  It appears CSHM will do what they can to put their “two cents” out there on a subject matter, press is press I suppose.  :

 “Cashing In by Cashing Out" – It’s a must read!!!