Central KY Commercial Real Estate Blog: NAI Isaac Brings Kool Smiles Dentistry to Elizabethtown, KY

Central KY Commercial Real Estate Blog: NAI Isaac Brings Kool Smiles Dentistry to Elizabethtown, KY

WARNING to Elizabethtown, Kentucky residents; it looks like you are about to become the unwitting prey of a Kool Smiles dental center. 

Danger to your children awaits.  Remember the dental mill mantra “Patients may be hard to increase, but billable procedures are not!”  Creative dentistry at its best.

I feel Kool Smiles operates illegally in Kentucky under the statues of a Professional Service Corporation (PSC) where by the person owning and directing the “professional service” must be licensed by the “professional” board of the state, in this case the Kentucky Board of Dentistry and the person MUST perform those services. KRS 313.060 (3) no person shall conduct dental practice in their name unless he or she personally performs services as a dentist is such office.  Not less then 1/2 of the officers of a PSC and ALL of the officers other than the secretary and the treasurer shall be qualified persons to perform the professional services. See KRS 274.027 and 274.045 

Why the KY Dental Board ignores its own laws, rules and regulations is beyond me. 

 

See many more Kool Smiles reports by clicking here.

 

Send me your Kool Smiles information or documentation its time they too stop torturing children and raping the Medicaid system in their illegal clinics.

cckaddie@yahoo.com

Here is the sign off highway US41 in Terra Haute, Indiana pointing to one of the Kool Smiles Dental Centers.

I recently took this during one of my stops on my “where in the world is the next illegal dental clinic” tour which I began in April. 

I also took the time to check out the clinic and even spoke with the next door business owners, who had a lot to say.

There was a cute little shop right next door that two lovely grandmother type ladies owned.  I was in need of a wedding gift so I went in to see what they had.  After I picked out a couple of nice items, the graciously offered to gift wrap them, which gave me time to ask them about the dental clinic next door. 

Immediately the woman scowled.  I knew that she knew it was a bad bad place.  Just a few inquisitive questions got her to talking.  She told me about the horrible and terrifying screams they hear through the walls.  She told of the many times her patrons who would be shopping would look at her and gasp.  She told me there are times where customers have become extremely upset hearing the shear terror in the tiny screams coming through the walls. 

She said it was where a lot of Medicaid children went, she didn’t know I l already knew all about these folks.  This day, it was nice outside, sun shining and a slight breeze, they had their backdoor open to let the breeze flow though.

She said her and her partner had stepped out back earlier and listened at the back door of the Kool Smiles and it made them both sick.  They had called in a complaint a time or two but nothing was ever done, it’s a dentist office, that treats children, who cares if there are screams she was told.

Who cares?  I do.  Don’t you? 

If you are a former employee please contact me, send me what evidence you have, your identity is strictly confidential.  I couldn’t know all I know if I didn’t keep my informants identity a secret.  Heck, just send me some documents anonymously, that’s fine too.

cckaddie@yahoo.com

GASP!! Kool Smiles To Do Study For Virginia; Chief Dental Officer On Board; Dr. Tran (owner) Under Review In IN and GA

Smiles For Children has partnered with the dental provider, Kool Smiles (Virginia operations only), to assess the effects of best practices for decreasing broken appointment rates in specific dental clinics. Preliminary results suggest that these best practices decrease broken appointment rates. The pilot remains ongoing; however, the final results will be published in 2010 and shared with Doral’s Smiles For Children provider network to help increase provider participation, satisfaction, and member utilization. 

Read more in Virginia's 2009 report, page 5.  Note that Dr. David M. Strange is on the advisory board..  (chock and laugh)...  and he doesn't even practice in the state and is Kool Smiles Chief Dental Officer. 

Meet Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. Faux Chief Dental Officer For Kool Smiles

Oh look, it's Dr. David M. Strange, wife and children.   They can be found here, in Colorado.

Wonder what his children are going to think when they grow up a bit more and know what he did to children for a $.

Oh Look, once again Dr. Strange appears here too!  Liar Liar, pants on fire.

So, Dr. Strange has moved back to Colorado, Dr. Pham wanted to move to El Paso, they didn't want him to, so they bought him out and NOW Dr. Tu Tran's dental licenses is under review in Georgia and Indiana, among other states....and we have idiots in Kentucky -Legislators and Medicaid Officials - gather at Kool Smiles for a pep rally. 

I'm not worried though, I'm sure Dr. Polly will keep everything under control....but if I worked at a Kool Smiles, I might be looking for another job.  But while you're at it, tell what you know, file a Qui Tam lawsuit and reap the rewards.  First come, first served! 

Dear God, help me find a way to remove the blinders. 

Tidbits Of Kool Smiles Information

Dr. Tu Tran and Dr. Thein Pham were top dentist's at Smile High clinic in Denver, owned and operated by Eddie, Michael and Dan DeRose where they learned the DeRose Way of spreading dental services to the underserved.

When they broke out on their own, they began with 1 clinic in 2002 and by December 2003 there were three clinics in Georgia.

After 2003 things took off.  By January 2006 the Kool Smiles clinic count had jumped to 14 clinics.  In January 2007 there were 29 clinics and by July of 2007 there were 36.

I know this by using the wayback machine and checking the old copies of the website.

According to what I can find, there are somewhere around 100 clinics across the US, which beats Small Smiles, so they can shut up about being the "Largest" ...unless they mean dirty rotten scoundrels....

Dr. David Malcolm Strange, DDS of Kool Smiles and Kool Kids Dental

Dr. David Strange who is listed as Chief Dental Officer at Kool Smiles is Dr. David M. (Malcolm) Strange, Jr.
His father goes by the name, Malcolm Strange.

I’m pretty sure this is the same Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. that is referred to working at Pediatric Dental Group of Colorado.  PDC has 7 locations in Colorado.

Here is the bio of the Dr. David Strange at Kool Smiles:

Dr. David M. Strange, Chief Dental Officer

Dr.David M Strange is a board certified pediatric dentist. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center along with his certificate of Pediatric Dentistry from the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX and his MS from the Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr Strange was formerly an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and previously served on the Constitution and By-Laws Committee of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He is currently serving on theCouncil for Dental Benefits of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the Virginia Dental Advisory Committee for the Smiles for Children Dental Medicaid program. Dr Strange is also a member in good standing with the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Colorado Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Georgia Dental Association and the Southwestern Society...

Dentists Associated With Kool Smiles, Evansville, Indiana Operation

How many dentists do you think can work at one Kool Smiles dental mill?  10?  15?  20?

Never mind, don’t answer, I’ll just tell you.  The answer seems to be 60!  

Of course we know that 60 dentists can’t possibly work at one Kool Smiles, so they must float around the state from office to office.

But if you check out indianamedicaid.com you will find there are 60 dentists listed as providers at the Evansville, Indiana clinic at 400 E. Diamond Ave.

Dr. Falastin Abu Smn

Dr. Daniel P. Aldulenscu

Dr. John Ambrose

Dr. Kevin W. Beadle

Dr. Jennifer L. Beavin

Dr. Vidya R. Bettagere

Dr. Angelina J. Blass

Dr. Jessica E. Bolander

Dr. Randall W. Moorman Brigham

Dr. Jessica Brown

Dr. Michael W. Brown

Dr. Polly B. Buckey

Dr. Steven W. Buedel Dr. Brian O. Burke

Dr. Matthew A. Butler

Dr. Meghan E. Butler

Dr. Shane T. Cope

Dr. Joshua B. Davis

Dr. Emani Sreekanth

Dr. Shadrach G. Gonqueh

Dr. Kent M. Gross

Dr. Allison M. Heuer

Dr. Amber R. Hobbs-Buchner

Dr. Ted L. Huppert

Dr. Jeffery M. Jones

Dr. Phillip L. Jones

Dr. Ajay P. Joshi

Dr. Edna F. Kemp

Dr. Anthony r. Klein

Dr. Pooja Kumar

Dr. Shalesh Kumar

Dr. Connie Kunelis

Dr. Michael J. Lawyer

Dr. Tinna Lee

Dr. Elizabeth Maletta

Dr. Lucas B. Marrs

Dr. Yovnne R. Mcleod

Dr.Jacob E. Myers

Dr. Raghunandan B. Narasimhamurthy

Dr. Marlene Navedo

Dr. Tiffany Nicole Nightengale

Dr. Karen J. Noel

Dr. Nassim F. Olabi

Dr. Uma Peeta

Dr. Thien C. Pham, owner

Dr. Michael L. Rudolph

Dr. Afsaneh Samimi

Dr. Dipesh P. Sitaram

Dr. Peter Smith

Dr. David M. Strange, Chief Dental Officer

Dr. Pavel D. Svilenov

Dr. Juanita R. Taylor

Dr. Tu Tran, owner

Dr. Ryan D. Tschetter

Dr. Roger P. Valliere

Dr. David M. Vieth, Corporate level, stepped in when Dr. Pham sold out.

Dr. Carl Williams

Dr. Sara J. Willingham White

One name jumped out in this long list.  Dr. Tiffany Noel Nightengale.  Tiffany is also a provider in Indiana, Virginia and Ohio for FORBA’s Small Smiles.   Some dentist are also provers in Kentucky.  Dr. Polly Buckey for example.

We can take Dr. Thien Pham off the list, since according to the minutes of the Arizona Dental Board for August 2009, he says he has left the company.  Wonder why one of the founders is gone?  I’ll be looking into that.

I noticed Dr. Pham was missing from the Kool Smiles ‘About Us’ page the other day.  In his place is Dr. David M. Vieth. 

Conflict of Interest at Department of Medical Assistance Services-Virginia

I just find it totally amazing that Dr. David Strange of Kool Smiles is on the Dental Advisory Committee of the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services. He may have a licenses there but I bet you he's never touched a patients mouth in Virginia, yet he wants to be an adviser!! What is he planning to give advise them about.

It's that like the fox watching the hen house. He is in business with Dr. Tu M. Tran and Dr. Theim Pham who originally trained and worked with Drs. Michael and Ed DeRose at Smile High Clinic which morphed into Small Smiles. Want to take a guess where Tran, Pham, and Strange are from, Colorado!

Not only this, but Dr. Harry M. Joseph is an employee of both Small Smiles and Kool Smiles according to Doral's May 2008 Handbook, so what gives with that.

I think there is a clear conflict of interest here!

Dental Advisory Committee Members (updated) 2008

Dr. David Strange (from the Kool Smiles website)

Dr. David M. Strange, Chief Dental Officer
Dr. David M Strange is a board certified pediatric dentist. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center along with his certificate of Pediatric Dentistry from the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX and his MS from the Baylor College of Dentistry. Dr Strange was formerly an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and also served as the President of the Colorado Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He previously served on the Constitution and By-Laws Committee of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and is currently serving on the Council for Dental Benefits of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr Strange is also a member in good standing with the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Colorado Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Georgia Dental Association and the Southwestern Society of Pediatric Dentistry. His three children and wife live in Atlanta after relocating from Denver, Colorado.

Kool Smiles Turned Away in Arkansas March 2007

I'm wondering how Kool Smiles PC was able to skirt the laws and get two offices opened in Arkansas.

In March 2007, Drs. Tu Tran, Thien Chi Pham and Dr. David M. Strange, Jr. went before the Arkansas Dental Board to apply for licenses, they were turned down.

From the Minutes Dated 3-2-2007

Drs. Thien Pham and Tu Tran each appeared before the Board for an Arkansas dental license by examination. After some discussion, a motion was made and seconded to grant Dr. Pham a license. With 4 Board members voting in favor of granting him a license and 4 Board members voting against granting him a license, the Board President broke the tie and voted against granting a license to Dr. Pham. After additional discussion, a motion was made and seconded to table Dr. Tran’s application until the Board office receives a copy of his dental school diploma and New York license verification.

David M. Strange, Jr., DDS appeared before the Board for an Arkansas dental license by credentials. After some discussion, a motion was made to grant him a dental license, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Maybe Drs. Thien Pham and Tu Tran, two Vietnamese dentists finally came up with copy of his dental school diploma. However as you can tell, at first it was a no go for these two, then it was decided that if they came up with actual diploma's they would reconsider.

As for Dr. David M. Strange, Jr, DDS, it was a flat NO.

To see the minutes of the meeting click here.

update:

Looks like Dr. Pham came back on September 14, 2007 with Paul Walker and got Kool Smiles in the door.

Click here to see the minutes.