Small Smiles Says It's Family Owned

Small Smiles has their company info on Careerbuilder.com (click here) Here they say they are family owned. I sure wish they would make up their minds on who owns them don't you guys? I guess it depends on who is asking, right?

Wild Smiles Just Another Name For Small Smiles

Forba's newest name change Wild Smiles is now open in Houston. Don't be fooled by the name, it is still FORBA, it's still Texas Smiles USA, it is still Small Smiles! I expect all of the clinics may soon see a name change. Picking Wild Smiles is quite appropriate don't you think?

WILD SMILES DENTAL CENTERS OF HOUSTON
5720-D Bellaire Boulevard — between Hillcroft Avenue and Chimney Rock Road
713-668-5437

Colorado Has Enacted A New Dental Practice Ownership Law

It looks like Colorado has enacted some new laws and regulations regarding dental practice ownership. After reading the new law it appears to be geared toward Forba/Small Smiles. If so this would be the second time Colorado has had to enact laws especially geared toward these clinics. The first one was limiting the number of crowns done in one setting and limiting the amount of time they can keep a child tied up in a papoose board.

Here is the new law:

Colorado Enacts New Laws Regarding Dental Practice Ownership
On March 20, 2008, Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. signed House Bill 08-1134 into law effective August 5, 2008. A portion of this bill concerns the disclosure of the ownership of a practice that provides dental care to patients. This law will directly affect all dental or dental hygiene practices in Colorado. Specifically, this new law requires that certain information regarding the ownership of the dental or hygiene practice be available upon request at the reception desk of the practice during normal business hours. The law further provides that this information be made available on a form approved by the Board. This ownership form is available on the Board’s website here. The availability of this information is a mandatory requirement, effective August 5, 2008.

Another important provision in this legislation is that it allows an heir to the dentist or dental hygienist to serve as a proprietor of the deceased’s practice for up to one year after their death, regardless of whether the heir is licensed to practice. And that upon good cause shown, may petition the Board for an extension of the temporary ownership period by up to an additional twelve months, if necessary, to allow them sufficient time to sell or otherwise dispose of the practice.

I especially enjoyed the form they designed to be filled out and on hand at the front desk for anyone to be able to ask and see exactly who really owns a particular clinic. Of course Forba is notorious for using the licenses of dentist that are actually Forba employees and saying they are the owners. They do this in several states, Ken Knott and Robert Andrus are prime examples of this.

What blows my mind is what amount of money would a dentist have to receive in compensation to loan out their licenses like that. Of course when Forba fills out this little form it will be just more fraudulent evidence won't it.

Does you Colorado Dental Clinic have this form on hand at the front desk? It should, since this law took effect August 8, 2008.

Forba's Banking Habits

Ever wonder where Forba /Small Smiles does it's banking? Well so did I. I was able to obtain a copy of the back of a check Forba Holding, LLC deposited into their account. I removed the actual account number since I figured none of you actually wanted to make a deposit in their account.

They make their deposits to Associated Bank (Assocaited Banc-Corp) that has branches in Wisconsin and Illinois, which by the way are two states they don't have even one clinic in operation. Am I the only one that finds that a bit odd?

There is another thing I find odd that's I've been told by those who either work for or have worked for Forba. They pay out of various accounts. Some get paid from Children's Medicaid Clinic, and others paid from Forba Holding,LLC some paid from Forba NY, LLC and I believe some get their bonus checks coming from yet another company name.

If you get checks from Forba email me and tell me where your checks come from and what bank they are written on.


Clickable Email Me Link

So who owns 415 N. Grand Street, Pueblo, Colorado-Forba's Colorado Address?

Want to know who owns "Touchdown Properties" click here. If you don't want to take the time to click I'll just tell you. It's Dan DeRose. Well, Dan DeRose and Michael A. Roumph. If you search for Michael, he's a huge part of DD Marketing, Dan's other company.

I know that Michael DeRose and his daddy, Eddie take a lot of heat over this Small Smiles/Forba thing, probably since they are dentists themselves, but Danny boy is up to his friggin neck in this whole thing.

Forba Holding, LLC Sues Adventure Dental and Vision (Hero Management, Ron Montano)

I reported a month or so ago about Ron Montano, his dental management company, Hero Management and his string of clinics called Adventure Dental and Vision.  I reported that he used to work for Small Smiles.  His separation from the company is conflicting, I've heard he quit, I've heard he was fired...not that it really matters.

Well, in April 2007 Forba Holding file a lawsuit again Ron Montano and Hero Management and the cause in question is the "Economic Espionage Act of 1996, section 18:1831.  Forba was demanding $350,000 in damages according to the suit.  Cause Number 2007cv00675.  This particular case was dismissed on September 21, 2007 with both parties agreeing not to pursue this any further.  I suspect Forba really didn't want ALL their trade secrets being aired in open court don't you?

According to Wikipedia the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 is as follows:

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (see RFD 18 U.S.C. § 1831) makes the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime.

This law contains two sections criminalizing two sorts of activity. The first, 18 U.S.C. § 1831(a), criminalizes the misappropriation of trade secrets (including conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets and the subsequent acquisition of such misappropriated trade secrets) with the knowledge or intent that the theft will benefit a foreign power. Penalties for violation are fines of up to US$500,000 per offense and imprisonment of up to 15 years for individuals, and fines of up to US$10 million for organizations,

The second section, 18 U.S.C. § 1832, criminalizes the misappropriation of trade secrets related to or included in a product that is produced for or placed in interstate (including international) commerce, with the knowledge or intent that the misappropriation will injure the owner of the trade secret. Penalties for violation of section 1832 are imprisonment for up to 10 years for individuals (no fines) and fines of up to US$5 million for organizations.

In addition to these specific penalties, section 1834 of the EEA also requires criminal forfeiture of (1) any proceeds of the crime and property derived from proceeds of the crime and (2) any property used, or intended to be used, in commission of the crime.

The Act authorizes civil proceedings by the Department of Justice to enjoin violations of the Act, but does not create a private cause of action. Thus, victims or putative victims must work with the U.S. Attorney in order to obtain an injunction.

I don't really understand exactly why it was Forba vs Hero since this is a criminal act and Forba would have to file a criminal complaint with the US Attorney to get this suit filed and according to the filings this is a civil suit. 

Anyway, evidently Forba says Ron Montano took some 'trade' secrets with him when he left Small Smiles and is using them to profit from his Adventure Dental and Vision clinics.

The attorney for Forba was William T. Slamkowski of Hensley, Kim and Holzer in Denver.  The attorney for Ron Montano  was Brett Painter of Davis, Graham and & Stubbs in Denver.

Update:

Ok, I finally got my hands of the law suit and Forba was ticked off because two of their employees, besides Ron himself went over to Adventure Dental at the time it was called Captain Smiles.  The two others that jumped Forba's ship was Joseph Lee and Adam Ditto.  Lee and Ditto supposed took all this sensitive info over to Montano....

Tish Ballance, DDS Small Business Loan

Here is a link to a list of Small Business Association loans in North Carolina.  About 3/4 of the way down the page you will see Letitia L. Ballance, DDS, PA was approved for a 1.3 million dollar loan in January, on the 28th to be exact or that's how I read it anyway. 

That was about 4 months before she entered into the $10 million dollar settlement with the government for Medicaid fraud.

Wonder what happened to this money?

Dr. Tish Ballance Still Living High

Who says it's not profitable to accept medicaid dental patients? Here is Dr. Letitia (Tish) Ballance's home just outside Charlotte, North Carolina on Charlie Hipp Road. It's close to 10,000 square feet, sets on 8.5 acres, has a stable and valued at around 1 million dollars. Even though she was ordered to pay her part of a $10 million dollar settlement for Medicaid fraud, over treating children, strapping them in papoose boards to increase patient flow through the office she's still living in high cotton as some would say.

Here is a picture of it when it was still under construction.

One thing I know for sure is that Tish Ballance won't be driving to Waynesville to work in that clinic she's planning on opening in Waynesville, NC. I drove it and from her house to that clinic is real close to 140 miles one way.

Here is an example of the heart felt letters I get from dentists across the nation

Thank you for your courage in dealing w/ this issue. I hope the US Attorney's Office would take note, as this represents interstate organized crime, & RICO violations.

The horrors of this organization are well known to those willing to take their heads out of the sand. It goes from the overdose & death of a child a few years ago in West Phoenix, to "over-billing", to physical restraints, to hand over nose & mouth (stops child's breathing) to insert Molt mouth ratchet, to hair dryers so parents won't see peed pants of frightened kids as they return to reception room, to blasted music sound systems to block out cries of children, to gross over-treatment, etc.

What in particular eats at me is the corruption of my junior dentist colleagues. They are never quite the same after experiencing these "clinics". They are in some state of post-traumatic shock. It's difficult for them to open up, & when they do, they flood w/ emotions.

In many ways, it's not only the children which suffer. The junior dentists & auxiliary staff also are damaged by the experience. Their stories are difficult to hear.

Medicaid & "Access to Care" are political footballs, which few truly wish to honestly face. Poor children are pawns. Too bad.

BTW- Up until a couple of years ago, Dan DeRose managed a company (owners included father, Edward (dentist) & brother Michael (dentist)), which placed soda pop machines in public schools. Big $$$! Seemingly, this is an ethical conflict. Step 1. Generate cavities in kids (especially in low-income communities where they need pop machines to subsidize education.). Step 2. Advertise in public schools via take-home flyers to parents of dental care (Medicaid). Step 3. Have Medicaid dental clinic open for business.

Did you check out the public record of the CO Dental Board & Sanctions against Drs. Edward & Michael DeRose? CO Dental Board prevailed. Dental Board claimed DeRoses utilized unlicensed dentists at their CO Medicaid clinics. The DeRoses countered these were "training" activities.

Again, thank you for assisting the public good.

Tish Ballance To Open Clinic in Waynesville, NC October 2008

After much discussion on what the heck happened to Tish Ballance and her Access West dental clinic that was supposed to open in Asheville, NC in July 2008 I thought it was time to just go find out for myself.
So I took off to Asheville to check things out.  There is no sign of her Access West Clinic in Asheville and the number you find of the Internet is no longer in service, nor is there a current phone number for Access West, so hopefully we stopped that theivin dentist in Asheville.
However and this is a big however!  She is opening up a clinic in Waynesville, NC about 25 miles northwest of Asheville close to Maggie Valley and Cherokee, NC.  It's a beautiful little town nestled at the foot of the mountains.  A good place for a crook to hide out.
Her new clinic's name is Carolina West Dental Clinic and will be located in Waynesville Plaza shopping center in the old Family Dollar building.  It appeared the plumbing is in for all the dental stations but not one stud has been put up in the huge building. 
I asked the construction guys about the place and they directed me across the parking lot to a small tan building housing a construction company's office who builds log home among other things.
I spoke with the gentlemen in the office and they told me the place should be ready to open at the end of October, so we still have some time left to stop this clinic from opening as well. 
Evidently times are hard for Tish as her contractor seems to be also acting as her human resources person.  I say this since I presented my self as looking for a job and the new clinic and he insisted that I could get my resume together and leave it with him and he would see to it that it got to the right person.
But there seems to be no sign of her greed little hands in Asheville unless she used some other name to open her clinic other than Access West or Carolina West Dental.
It's time we warn the good citizens of Waynesville what kind of person is about to start treating the children in this small quaint town.