Heartland Dental, ReachOut America, Dental One, and others...

I notice a lot of folks visit this blog looking for information on Heartland dental; complaints, fraud and lawsuits.  Same with this rogue Reachout Healthcare America mobile dental setup.  If you've got something you would like to share, email here.  

Thor:  

Don't go nuts, this has nothing whatsoever to do with CSHM!

IS INDIVIDUAL DENTAL COVERAGE A GOOD IDEA?

By Dr. Henry Kim D.M.D.
December 4, 2011

Your friends that work for big business have dental plans. You hear them talk about it paying for so much of their dental needs: crowns to make their front teeth pretty, and braces for their kids. You are self-employed, or work for a small family-owned business. It’s only natural to want the same great deal your friends have. Then you see a poster on a telephone pole, advertising a great family dental plan. It will cost only $20 a month, but supposedly save you 30, 40 or even 50 percent on the cost of dentistry. Should you bite?

First, it is interesting to note that dental “insurance” (a misnomer if there ever was one) was not invented as a cost-efficient way to make dental care more affordable. It was an animal birthed by labor unions in the late 1950s. They correctly saw that high progressive tax rates of the era would wipe out a lot of any wage increases they negotiated. So instead, they pushed for dental insurance, which let them shield wages from taxes.So corporate dental plans were really a clumsy and inefficient idea that were not well conceived. At least 30%, and sometimes up to 50%, of dental premium dollars is eaten up by claims administration. Not a good deal at all!

Once instituted, dental insurance became a sought-after employee benefit in the non-union sector as well. It offered the same tax-shielding benefits for non-union employees. Unfortunately, no one ever examined the efficiency or wisdom of the convoluted claims administration process employed by dental “insurance” carriers.

Blogging dentist unloads her real feelings. Maybe she picked the wrong profession.

This 36 year old dentist’s name is Lora, she is a dentist in…drum roll please…. Colorado!

← The Big Reveal

10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too

Posted on November 28, 2011 by lolabees

Now that I’ve left my career and cut some dead weight out of my life, I feel ready to look back and have a laugh– or just finally be able openly bitch about it.  So here’s my confession: I am a dentist who really didn’t love the dentist either being a dentist.  A few months ago I came across a funny post titled, “10 Reasons I Hate The Dentist.“  It appeared right when I was in the thick of my career transition.  It inspired me to write this, so, RedHead Chronicles, thank you for the inspiration.

10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too

1.  The first thing you say when you sit down in my chair is, “I hate the dentist.”  Really?!?  Did your parents teach you any manners?  Did they ever teach you that it is impolite to tell someone you hate them the moment you greet them?  What I really want to say back is, “aww, I hate you too.”

2.  You come to your appointment, and it’s obvious you haven’t brushed your teeth in days.  I’ve had some people with great hygiene come in and apologize because they’ve just eaten lunch and couldn’t brush.  This is not what I’m talking about.  I mean food and thick plaque everywhere.  After 10 years of seeing blood and rotten teeth and some really nasty things, this is still the 1 thing that makes me dry heave.  You know when you come to us that we have to be in your mouth.  Would you clean your home before having company?  Additionally, I have spent hours literally bending over backwards repairing your teeth.  Could you at least pretend that you are caring for the work that I have struggled to complete for you?

Dr. Wendell A. Racetter–Multiple offender finally goes on trial

  Late update Wednesday 11-30-2011

Lansing Michigan Journal

LSJ.com  -  November 28, 2011 - Jury selection is underway in the trial of a 65-year-old dentist accused of sexually assaulting a child patient more than a decade ago.

Wendell Alan Racette, 65, of Delta Township, faces multiple counts of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Authorities have said that the assaults happened between 1996 and 2000 at Racette's former office on East Saginaw Street in Lansing, when the former male patient, now 21, was between the ages of 5 and 10. The Lansing State Journal does not identify alleged victims of sexual crimes.

The alleged victim contacted Lansing police in December 2010 and made the accusations. Charges were filed in January of this year.

Racette was accused of sexual abuse twice in the 1990s, officials have said, but no charges were filed.

In the late-1990s, a state attorney general’s investigation found Racette performed shoddy work on four children. He was charged with misdemeanor child abuse based on allegations he harmed children's teeth, including allowing fillings to decay. Those charges eventually were dropped.

He also has been convicted of Medicaid fraud twice, dating back to the early 1980s, and had his license suspended and then revoked by the state in 2001. He sued to have it reinstated, and in 2009 was issued a limited license, state records show.

The trial is in Ingham County Circuit Court before Judge William Collette.

Update: Wednesday November 30,  2011

MASON - A 21-year-old man who says his pediatric dentist sexually assaulted him multiple times more than a decade ago gave graphic descriptions Tuesday of some of the alleged assaults.

The man described being raped on a couch in the dentist's private office on one occasion as the dentist twisted one arm behind his back and pushed his face into a cushion.

"I still remember what that couch tasted like," the alleged victim testified on the second day of the trial of Wendell Alan Racette.

The alleged victim further testified he passed out on the couch, where he had been taken to "sleep off" the effects of nitrous oxide. When he woke up, in extreme pain, he testified, Racette was getting dressed.

Racette had a warning, the man said: "He told me if I told anybody, he'd kill me and do it to my sister."

Racette, 65, of Delta Township, is charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving penetration and 11 counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, involving touching.

Prosecutors say the assaults happened between 1996 and 2000 at Racette's former office on East Saginaw Street in Lansing, when the alleged victim was between the ages of 5 and 10. The Lansing State Journal does not identify alleged victims of sexual crimes.

The case is in Ingham County Circuit Court before Judge William Collette.

The alleged victim contacted Lansing police in December 2010 and made the accusations. Charges were filed in January.

Racette's attorney, Chris Bergstrom, began questioning the alleged victim late Tuesday afternoon. Bergstrom will continue his cross-examination when the trial continues Thursday.

In opening statements Monday, Bergstrom said testimony would show patients were never led to Racette's private office after being administered nitrous oxide.

The effects of the gas, he said, typically wear off in minutes.

He said the alleged victim's accusations were, in many cases, not physically possible.

Also Tuesday, the alleged victim testified the most terrifying moments happened in a treatment room, where he said Racette would belittle him in front of office assistants, hold him down and intentionally inflict pain when drilling.

"The more you would fight, the more painful it would be," he said.

Intentionally inflicting pain on young children was common at the practice, according to the testimony of former employee Joyce Sample-Franco. So was screaming, she said.

"I saw him drill without anaesthesia down to the nerve," she said, adding that Racette regularly yelled at the children.

Sample-Franco testified that she once asked Racette why he was doing that. He responded that it was faster, she said.

Racette - who has been convicted of Medicaid fraud twice and once was charged with misdemeanor child abuse - had his license suspended and then revoked by the state in 2001.

He sued to have it reinstated, and in 2009 was issued a limited license, state records show.

Church Street Health Management and FORBA Services new address

Well, it’s not really new, only the suite number has changed, but still…

It’s now:

Church Street Health Management – Small Smiles Dental Centers

618 Church Street
Suite 130  (used to be 520)
Nashville, TN  37219

Wonder if the top 4 floors blew off down there recently!  lol  Sorry, but it was funny.   

California Dental Association sues the state Medicaid Association

CDA sues government over Medicaid cutbacks

By DrBicuspid Staff

November 22, 2011 -- The California Dental Association (CDA) has joined forces with the California Medical Association (CMA), the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA), and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores in a federal lawsuit against the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services protesting proposed cutbacks to the state's Medicaid reimbursement system.

Read the rest of the story at Dr. Biscupid

Wonder why the CDA hasn’t sued because of the waste and fraud?  Why has the CDA not taken action in house to bring an end to the waste and fraud?  Surely is it not because they are the problem and crying for a bigger piece of the pie!  Who is really behind the lawsuit?   

I’ll say it again, for the millionth time, and I’ll keep saying it, stop the abuse and fraud and there is plenty money to pay for treatment to those who need treatment.  But to stop it, dentists and dental associations have to get involved and quit leaving it to the public to fix the mess!  We can only do so much out here!!

Thanks

When given the opportunity to do what is right, correct a wrong, and end the child abuse, how do you explain not taking it? You can't, not really.

I'll be giving thanks this holiday season for all those who take the opportunity they have been given.

Smith and Lindley

 11-1-2011
I heard Al Smith and Michael Lindley are no longer President and CEO of Church Street Health Management/Small Smiles dental.

True? I don't know.

update:  11-10-2011
Confirmed!
Michale Lindley is "no longer with the company"

Still working on ole Alford Joseph.

update: 11-18-2011

I hear Todd Cruse has been put in charge to guard the hen house, taking Lindley's place.
Still not sure about Smith.

Stockton, California 4 year old, dead after dental surgery

 

RECORD Net

By Joe Goldeen

Record Staff Writer

November 16, 2011 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - On Friday, Dominique Smith brought her son Jermaine, 4, to a dentist in Oakland. She later left him with the Alameda County coroner.

Something went wrong after Jermaine was given an oral anesthetic to calm him down and subdue any pain caused by the dental procedure intended to remove some rotten teeth and cap some others. The family wants some answers.

Jermaine died after doctors unsuccessfully attempted to revive him, administering chest compressions for up to 45 minutes, his family said.

On Aug. 6, 2007, in Stockton Jermaine Lee Harrison was born with a hole in the wall that separates the right and left ventricles of his heart. He required open-heart surgery and, about 12 months later, he had a pacemaker installed. Three years later, he was thriving and healthy, his family said.

"He was playful. He never wanted to stay in the house. He was a jolly little boy, a happy little boy," said his grandmother, Pamela McElroy of Stockton, who accompanied her daughter and grandson to Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland last week where the dental procedure was scheduled.

Children's Hospital Oakland was familiar with Jermaine's medical history, the family said, because that's where his initial open-heart surgery was and where he returned every six months for a cardiology checkup.

The family is at a loss on what to do next. An autopsy report on the cause of death from the Coroner's Bureau of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office is not due for about a month, according to a coroner's spokesman who said it is standard procedure.

A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital Oakland said late Tuesday neither she nor hospital staff could speak about any aspect of the case without written consent from the family, which they are working on obtaining.

Anyone wishing to contact the family may call McElroy at (209) 271-3401.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/goldeenblog.

---

STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) -- A 4-year-old Stockton boy who survived three open-heart surgeries died Friday while having his teeth capped.

The boy’s grandmother, Pamela McElroy, said she watched as he was taken into an operating room. She never saw him alive again.

The cause of death remains a mystery, and an official at Oakland Children’s Hospital – where the dental surgery was performed Friday – said an investigation is underway.

“I just want to know what went wrong,” McElroy said.

Strange visitors indeed

Over the last 5 days there has been an increase in web traffic here.  Some of the search terms used are:

Todd Cruse
Forba Nashville Closing
Stockton 4 year old death
Eight dental office closed over billing news 8
Smile Starters Complaints
Heartland Dental Complaints
Neta DeRose Obituary