


U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office of Civil Rights
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C., 20201
Phone: (866) 627-7748
Web: www.hhs.gov
Small Smiles, the children's dentistry clinic accused of mistreating its young patients in the pursuit of profit, lost its core patient base on Saturday.
The New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General terminated the Colonie clinic from the Medicaid program, eliminating its federal funding.
"I'm glad they're terminating Small Smiles," said U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a staunch critic of the company. "They don't deserve to be in business and certainly not get any federal money."
On April 1, CBS 6 News first reported the allegations of two former Small Smiles employees who claimed the dentists rush through procedures and perform unnecessary work in hopes of earning "production bonuses."Reader Comments:
The company flatly denied the allegations, calling the report "a striking piece of substandard journalism." In the weeks that followed, however, more than 100 parents called or emailed CBS 6 to share their own Small Smiles horror stories.
The most common allegations included:
-Children receiving as many as eight crowns in a single sitting (all baby teeth)
-Work performed without the use of Novocain or any other numbing agent
-Dentists rushing through procedures, causing children to vomit and urinate themselves
-Children placed in a "papoose" restraint, regardless of whether it was needed
-Parents denied the option of sitting with their children during procedures
-Dirty instruments wiped-off and placed back in the drawer
Sen. Schumer, who has seen news reports documenting similar allegations against Small Smiles clinics in Denver, Rochester, and Washington D.C., bristled at the claims.
"They ought to prosecute some of the people who did this," he said via satellite from Capitol Hill. "This goes beyond a mistake. This is hurting our children and ripping off the federal government...and I think there ought to be a criminal investigation of this."
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has the power to bring criminal charges against Small Smiles, and a trusted source confirmed that Cuomo's office is investigating.
In addition, the New York State Education Department, which licenses the dentists, has filed a subpoena requesting all of the information CBS 6 uncovered. The station is cooperating.
COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
Though Small Smiles has now been stripped of its federal funding, Sen. Schumer said there are still safe and reliable alternatives for Medicaid parents: community health centers.
"Our community health centers have a good record," he said. "They're not like this company, they're on the up-and-up, and they often provide the best dental care for the kids who don't have any other way to get dental care."
There are three community health centers in the Capital Region:
Hometown Health
1044 State Street, Schenectady
518.374.8464
Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Services
920 Lark Drive, Albany
518.465.4771
Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Services
6 102nd Street, Troy
518.833.6900
Something is just not right here. Kentucky suspends 180 dentists licenses for not paying their annual dues, and other states smack very few bad seeds on the wrists for strapping down children and insurance and Medicaid fraud. Don't we need a bit of consistency somewhere? No wonder dentists state hop when they get in deep doo doo in one state.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008Kentucky suspends more than 180 dentists, angers health advocates
By ROGER ALFORD
Associated Press WriterFRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Oral health advocates in Kentucky are fuming over what they call "a bureaucratic nightmare" that led to the temporary suspensions of more than 180 dentists.
The suspensions are especially troublesome in a state that struggles with poor dental health, said Dea Riley, head of the Appalachian Roundtable, an advocacy group for residents of the state's impoverished mountain region.
"There seems to be very little logic in this maneuver," said Riley, who was angered that dentists in some rural coal towns had to close their offices until paperwork was processed to restore their licenses. "They need to be allowing these doctors to practice dentistry, not make it more difficult for them."
Riley said the move by the Kentucky Board of Dentistry wouldn't have been so irksome if Kentucky didn't already rank among the worst states in the nation in toothlessness. A study by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine last year found that 37 percent of Kentucky adults were missing at least six teeth.
Despite those dismal statistics, the dental board ordered the suspensions of dentists who missed a Dec. 31 deadline to submit paperwork and pay a $230 fee. Lisa Turner, the dental board's interim executive director, said 187 practicing dentists were affected. All have since returned to work.
Turner said the problem arose when the dental board changed the way it notified dentists about the need to renew their licenses.
In past years, letters of reminder were mailed to the state's more than 2,300 practicing dentists to remind them that their licenses were set to expire on Dec. 31. Last year, the dental board simply printed a notice in its fall newsletter.
"Apparently a large percentage failed to read the newsletter," Turner said.
Because so many dentists didn't renew their licenses, the dental board decided to send a postcard reminder in December. It, too, went unheeded, she said.
Turner said the problem coincided with a push by the dental board for all dentists to renew their licenses online.
Dr. Scott Browning, a dentist in Vicco in rural eastern Kentucky, said he was surprised to learn in January that his license had been suspended because of the communications breakdown. He said he initially learned about his suspension when he called an oxygen supplier to place an order. He then called the dental board to verify what the supplier had told him.
"They should have a way of contacting the dentists," Browning said. "All it would have taken was a phone call."
Browning had to close his office for a week, postponing all appointments that he could, while frantically trying to get patients suffering from tooth pain into nearby dental clinics.
"That is what was really making me angry," he said. "I couldn't help my people."
Riley said it's little wonder that Kentucky is the butt of jokes about its poor dental health when the state suspends the men and women responsible for caring for teeth.
"This affects our national reputation," she said