Texas "Chop Shops"

Below is a report from WFAA-TV reporter Byron Harris on illegal dental clinics in Texas. But it's not just "chop shops" like these that are operating illegally,just about every corporate owned clinic in Texas is illegal in one way or another.

WFAA TV
Report Byron Harris
May 20, 2011

Illegal dentistry entrenched in North Texas
MESQUITE - Illegal dentistry performed by unlicensed dentists used to happen in back rooms with makeshift equipment, where vulnerable customers gambled on low-quality care.

While the problems with quality are still there, what used to be an underground business is becoming an entrenched business.

Illegal dentistry is now an institution, with thriving permanent clinics practically daring authorities to take action.

Just off Central Expressway in Richardson, a neon "open" sign blinks for new customers. Inside, a dentist from Coahuila, Mexico requires cash up front, even though she's not licensed to practice in Texas or the United States.

In Mesquite, smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, a three-bedroom house has been an established clinic for five years. It has security fencing, a parking lot and surveillance cameras - in part to insure the safety of the all-cash business. Inside, there are three dentist chairs and patients say at least one X-ray machine.

The property is owned by Rogelio Esparza. His brother, Arturo, said he is a dentist in Mexico, but does not practice here. That does not account for a bag of what appeared to be dental waste found in the parking lot.