#4: Barber found guilty of offering bribe

Stephen Barber found guilty of offering bribe

Christmas Programming Guide

Byron Harris of WFAA-TV Channel 8– Dallas - will be airing an in depth documentary on crooked Medicaid dentists in Texas called “Crooked Teeth” It’s currently set to air at 11:30 on Sunday. 

Don’t miss it!

Well, this should scare the hell out of every parent in Kentucky- Merry Christmas

From the front page of the DOCS education website:

A concerned dentists writes about his worries, sadly they are directed to the wrong person.

Here is an email I received early this morning--December 23, 2011-from someone who spent all of 2 seconds on this blog.  He reports to be Dr. Glenn Krieger and from looking at my site stats, I have no reason to believe it’s not from Dr. Krieger.

Hey there.

I am a dentist of 20 years (general dentist).  I have a spot clean record and have even served on a peer review committee.

I just want to tell you that although I agree with what you are doing and why you are doing it, you are causing more harm than good. 

[Well, which is it, Dr. Krieger,  or is this your Carnegie sandwich methodology?  More harm, that good.  Hmmm….  You might want to look at your peers on that accusation. ]

There are certainly "bad apples" in dentistry and they should be removed, but scaring the general public with nasty adjective laden inflammatory obituaries is just plain wrong.

[Yes, Doc, there sure are some “bad apples”.  Do you have an estimate of just how many?  At least 2000 unqualified and/or are driven by corporate greed dentists preforming careless, reckless, and unnecessary procedures every day, and that’s a low ball number. 

No Sir, it is NOT wrong.  What is wrong is that no one else will tell it just like it is and not worry about all the political correct;soft spoken, sugar coated truths; that make it much easier for you to swallow. Can you tell me, Sir, just how many people died during dental procedures in from January 2010 to present?  If you can’t you need to be finding out!]

Dad saves son from deadly “tooth devil”

Names and location has been changed.

December 20, 2011

Seldom do I get an email from a parent whose child has entered “stainless crown hell” before the damage has been done. So it’s exciting to hear a good story for a change.

Most of the time I hear from parents only after the shocked and outraged has taken control after seeing their child post-treatment by one of the, all too common “tooth devils”. Their son or daughter was returned to them in the waiting room where they had patiently waited. Their child’s face is swelled, and bruised; the child is soaked with sweat, urine or both; the child is hysterical and inconsolable; their precious child now has a mouth full of stainless steel crowns.

That’s how it goes on a good day. On a bad one, they’ve heard an ambulance pull up and see the paramedics rush to the back, and within minutes, they see their beloved baby rushed into the ambulance, and whisked away to the nearest emergency room, and chances are high, it will not end well.

This week, however, I received a different type of email. This email was from a father who had taken his children to the dentist for a standard examination at Shortcut Dental Group. After taking several x-rays of his 7 year old, the dentist at Shortcut Dental told the father his son needed work done, but it would require sedation so they referred him to Pretty Damn Greedy (PDG) dental.

At PDG, they refused to use the x-rays from Shortcut Dental. PDG told dad that it was not “common practice” to send over the x-rays with the patient file and insisted the x-rays be retaken at PDG. Dad said it was a struggle at Shortcut Dental to get the x-rays. He now feared for his son being traumatized and exposed to the radiation once again. After the examination, Dr. K at PDG shocked dad telling him his son needed at least one tooth pulled and 7 crowns. In shock, dad questioned Dr. K telling the doctor his son has lost four of his baby teeth, and now he’s being told 8 of what his child has left needs urgent dental treatment; treatment that requires sedation! Dad had a gut feeling something wasn’t right, left and went home to do some research of his own.  Thank God for the Internet!

His research stunned him. He found that at least one patient had died at PDG in 2010 and there was almost a second death at PGD the very same day, it was the very next patient! Yet, Shortcut Dental was referring his son to this chamber of death without batting an eye.

This child was lucky. After dad’s research, and a few email exchanges, he was able to find a local dentist who still considers ethics of supreme importance; whose purpose is to create a trusting relationship with children; who is dedicated to providing a pleasant dental experience and only treat what needs treating; not how many procedures he can charge and not be questioned.

I wish there was a list of the good guys, with dentist that are truly prescreened. 

New rules in Texas could pose major problem

Appears Texas new Medicaid enrollment you must list your dentists name. Kool Smiles advises their patients to not just list Kool Smiles. HUGE problem, patient don't have clue who their doc is and with a 50% turnover rate it's not likely you will see the same doc twice.

http://www.mykoolsmiles.com/texas-medicaid

Student found dead after dental surgery–AGAIN! In Georgia–AGAIN! Wisdom Teeth Removal–AGAIN!

By Erica Byfield
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. —
A community is mourning the death of a standout basketball player.
Jerry Coleman, 19, died sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.
His family found him in his bedroom.
Coleman passed away days after having his wisdom teeth removed.
"He was a gifted athlete with gifted talent, but far more than that he was a super human being," said his former basketball coach David Allen at Central Gwinnett High School.
"He approached life the same way he approached the game it was 100 percent," Allen said.
Coleman graduated from high school last year.
In his junior year, Coleman helped his team become the Region 8-AAAAA Boys Basketball Champions.
He was currently enrolled at Kennesaw State.
Allen told Channel 2’s Erica Byfield he hoped to walk onto the college’s basketball team next season.
Coleman's former teammates plan to honor him in some way this season.
The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner has not yet released an official cause of death.
This incident comes less than two weeks after another teen died after having his wisdom teeth removed.
Law enforcement is investigating after 14-year-old Ben Ellis died after having his wisdom teeth removed. The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are looking into the cause of death.

Student found dead after dental surgery–AGAIN! In Georgia–AGAIN! Wisdom Teeth Removal–AGAIN!

 

By Erica Byfield Tuesday December 20, 2011

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. —

A community is mourning the death of a standout basketball player.

Jerry Coleman, 19, died sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.

His family found him in his bedroom.

Coleman passed away days after having his wisdom teeth removed.

"He was a gifted athlete with gifted talent, but far more than that he was a super human being," said his former basketball coach David Allen at Central Gwinnett High School.

"He approached life the same way he approached the game it was 100 percent," Allen said.

Coleman graduated from high school last year.

In his junior year, Coleman helped his team become the Region 8-AAAAA Boys Basketball Champions.

He was currently enrolled at Kennesaw State.

Allen told Channel 2’s Erica Byfield he hoped to walk onto the college’s basketball team next season.

Coleman's former teammates plan to honor him in some way this season.

The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner has not yet released an official cause of death.

This incident comes less than two weeks after another teen died after having his wisdom teeth removed.

Law enforcement is investigating after 14-year-old Ben Ellis died after having his wisdom teeth removed. The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are looking into the cause of death.

Mystery - Dallas, Flower Mound or Roanoke Texas Dental Death??

Since December 6th (2011) or so, there is at least one visitor to this blog a day brought here by using search terms about a death of a child from dental sedation in Texas.  I can’t find anything on this.
Here are some of the “search terms” or “keywords” used:
Child death Roanoke ( I first that is was VA, but now it’s showing up as TX)
Child death Flower Mound
Child death Dallas
Texas Dental Child Death
Death Dentist Texas
7 year old girl death in dentist chair Dallas
Dentist Death Texas
Child Death in dentistry
6 year old died in dental clinic Dallas Texas
Flower Mound boy killed by anesthesia during dental treatment
Child dies in dental chair Dallas
ALSO:
Why is Banner Health in Phoenix searching for “new york pediatric death of dental patient using nitrous oxide”?
Anyone have any info?

Kokomo dentist’s licensed revoked, but who cares, right? He’s still practicing dentistry.

December 9, 2011

Kokomo dentist’s license revoked

16 patients have filed multiple complaints against Dr. Joseph Beck

By KEN de la BASTIDE and Daniel Human Tribune staff writer The Kokomo Tribune Fri Dec 09, 2011, 10:39 PM EST

Kokomo — Although his dental license was revoked by the Indiana State Board of Dentistry, Dr. Joseph Beck continues to practice dentistry in Kokomo.

The dental board voted unanimously Dec. 2 to revoke Beck’s license, according to the Indiana Attorney General’s office. The board ordered Beck to pay costs and a $31,000 fine within 60 days of the order, which had not been issued as of Friday.

According to court records, 16 of Beck’s patients have alleged he billed for procedures not performed, had assistants performing dental procedures they were not trained for, failed to keep adequate records and did not keep up-to-date on professional theory.

Patients’ accounts date as far back as 2002.

Despite the ruling, the office of Beck Family Dentistry remains open.