This same study could be done in any state these private equity owned dental clinics operate and the results would be the same, if not worse. All of this has been reported right here since 2007, it’s 2014! Just saying…
Questionable Billing For Medicaid Pediatric Dental Services in New York - March 2014
October 10, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
Harris Williams & Co., a middle market investment bank focused on the advisory needs of clients worldwide, announces the sale of Northwestern Management Services, LLC (NMS) doing business as Gentle Dental (Gentle Dental), a leader in the dental service organization (DSO) industry, to Linden Capital Partners (Linden). Gentle Dental was a portfolio company of The Beekman Group, LLC (TBG). Harris Williams & Co. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Gentle Dental. The transaction closed on October 5, 2012 and was led by James Clark, Geoff Smith and David Allebach.
“Gentle Dental has established itself as a clear leader in the attractive South Florida dentistry market through its commitment to quality, operational excellence and results-driven approach to physician and practice support. In addition, this transaction demonstrates investors’ continued strong interest in the DSO sector driven by investors’ desire to find scalable business models in markets positioned to benefit from positive demographic trends,” said James Clark, a managing director in Harris Williams & Co.’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Group.
Texas dental Medicaid scandal far from over – Monday June 25, 2012
Collection of Documents
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Dollars and Dentists – FRONTLINE Tuesday June 26, 2012Collection of Documents
Patients, Pressure and Profits at Aspen Dental – Tuesday June 26, 2012 
Texas AG lawsuits spurred by WFAA dental investigation – June 26, 2012
CANCELED (again)
Bloomberg has published an article today that you just have to read.
It starts with a mom in Arizona picking up her (sobbing) 4 year old after school, only to learn that a dentist had installed steel crowns on two of his back teeth — "pulpotomies" according to a note in his backpack. Baby root canals.
The mother hadn't even been consulted. "I was absolutely horrified," she said.
No, this wasn't Marathon Man for toddlers. So why this aggressive act of dentistry?
It was about money. Profits. Private equity. And a new plague known as "dental abuse."
Bloomberg explains:
Isaac’s dentist was dispatched to his school by ReachOut Healthcare America, a dental management services company that’s in the portfolio of Morgan Stanley Private Equity, operates in 22 states and has dealt with 1.5 million patients. Management companies are at the center of a US Senate inquiry, and audits, investigations and civil actions in six states over allegations of unnecessary procedures, low-quality treatment and the unlicensed practice of dentistry.
ReachOut, Bloomberg reports, is one of just 25 dental management services "bought or backed by private-equity firms in the last decade." The management services take care of the business side, leaving the dentists to focus on teeth. The trouble started when the profit-driven businesses began seeing opportunity in your tax dollars: Medicaid.
Maybe that's why there's a big cavity in the US government's budget?
A former physician once counseled me that dentists were "a bunch of crooks, out to get rich." At the time, I took that with a grain of salt. Thanks to Bloomberg, I won't even floss without exercising caution.
Click here, and read on.
And if there's a dentist nearby, keep your mouth closed.
