Dentist caught damaging patients teeth on purpose

www.tmj4.com...

GRAFTON — A Grafton dentist was charged in federal court for allegedly damaging patients' teeth on purpose so that he could bill insurance companies for crown procedures.
Scott Charmoli, 60, was charged with Health Care Fraud and False Statements Relating to Health Care Matters on Tuesday. If found guilty, he could spend up to 20 years behind bars and face up to $250,000 in fines.
The Department of Justice says that starting around Jan. 1, 2016, Charmoli began a scheme where he falsely advised patients they needed crowns. During crown procedures, Charmoli purposely damaged the patients' teeth, the DOJ states.

Is it crazy that I think this guy should get the death penalty (ok ok maybe death is too much) or at the very least let former patients pull his teeth one by one?
250K is a slap on the wrist, he billed over 2 million!!!

I've heard things like this a little too often.
I wonder if it happened to me. I should have gotten a second opinion. Luckily I have a great dentist now.
Is this a rare thing or a lot more widespread than we realize?

a reply to: JAGStorm

When I was a kid I hated my dentist.
I swear he went to the sweeny Todd school of dentistry.
The man just plain hurt me.
He poked my lip with one of those scraper picks hard enough to make me bleed.
He put me in braces in the 5th grade and whenever I tell anyone he did the work and not an orthodontist they give me a wtf look.

I know damn well he found cavities that weren't there and looking back with more experience I know he told me lies.

When I moved out on my own I stopped going to the dentist for about 5 years and my wife said I need to go to her Dr. I did go reluctantly and after my appointment it was like..."that's it?"

I couldn't believe the difference.
That made me want to beat my original dentist to a pulp. I often wonder how many other kids he tortured. To this day I have issues with my lower front teeth and all of them required root canals.
My belief is that his braces caused these issues.


Anyways.
With my past experience with bad dentists I have very little sympathy left for any of them.

Since the death penalty is out, how about tar and feathered?

a reply to: JAGStorm

I had a dentist drill through my tooth once after telling me I had a cavity. He starts drilling into it about 5 minutes later he goes...oops...oh well guess there was no cavity there, better just fill that up. He ended up charging for everything and i've been left with a #ed up sensitive tooth ever since and I haven't trusted dentists ever since.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I know damn well he found cavities that weren't there and looking back with more experience I know he told me lies.

This happened to a family member. He was told he had cavities, and didn't believe it. Left went to another dentist and they didn't see any!

This also happened to a friend.

Dear God. This is appalling. Unfortunately, it's not an isolated incident.

I'm a dentist. Some of my colleagues and I have seen stuff like this show up in our offices every so often. On the best of days, it's expensive and aggressive work that was not indicated. In one worst case scenario that was averted, one of the neighboring practitioners had treatment planned stainless steel crowns on all of an 8 year old girl's primary molars. Luckily, the girl's father had the sense to get a second opinion and showed up in my office. The girl had no pathology at all. Radiographs showed nothing out of the ordinary just a normal mixed dentition. On clinical exam she was in very good shape, dentally.

It really makes me sick when stuff like this happens.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I personally think some Dentists ruin people's teeth on purpose. If you pay for check-ups and for the tooth surgery, Dentists can make a fortune.

a reply to: Wizzz0001

In one worst case scenario that was averted, one of the neighboring practitioners had treatment planned stainless steel crowns on all of an 8 year old girl's primary molars. Luckily, the girl's father had the sense to get a second opinion and showed up in my office.

What happens in cases like that. Did the dentist that recommend that get punished?
Is it up to the patient to file something?

originally posted by: JAGStorm
...or at the very least let former patients pull his teeth one by one?

I oddly know how to do this.

a reply to: JAGStorm

A dentist can report another dentist to the licensing entity or Public Health. But, you still need the patient to make a report and a lot of times, the attitude is that it's "just one tooth ar one filling and it's not worth it.". Which, on a grand scale, may be true but the potential for greater harm is still there and God forbid that someone sustains bigger issues.
I remember trying to report one specialist to the state a few years ago but I was told that he was the only guy in a huge area that that took the welfare insurance policies . But he was "on their radar". Fat lotta good that does anyone. He's still in practice, unfortunately.

The first dentist I had when I was a kid was OK until I had to have teeth pulled because the adult teeth were coming up behind. They put me in the chair, someone came and gave me the painkiller, and then they left me ... and left me ... and left me ...

By the time they got around to pulling out my baby teeth, the painkiller had about worn off, so they had the nurses holding me down in the chair and were pulling out my baby teeth with about no deadening. There were still partially dissolved root on them.

Mom put the kibosh on that, and started taking me to she and dad's dentist after that. That man never played around. It was wham! bam! thank you, ma'am. In and out, and he never did a thing more than you absolutely needed. The only time I ever felt discomfort from him was the one time in high school that I requested having a minor filling done on laughing gas only so I didn't have to go back to school with a fat face. Last time I'll ever do that again.

That's a terrible story, but not surprising. I'm sure it happens a lot.

Little story: In my teens I had to wear a brace for two agonising years. One day, at school, I broke the brace accidentally. Went to my dentist and he prepared to make a new impression of my upper teeth. It was a green, minty tasting paste in a sort of gumshield that sets in a few minutes.

Unfortunately he was called away by his receptionist for a bit... a bit too long as it turned out. The bloody paste had set too hard. After twisting, prying, tugging, etc., etc. He got it loose... and took a loose molar away with it. Actually, it was the most painless tooth extraction without an anesthetic I've ever had. This was in the UK mid 80s. In the end we just laughed about it as he was good on any other day.

I can't remember if he billed my mum for the extraction on top of the new brace.

Anyway, I steer clear of dentists as much as possible... twenty odd years and counting.

Absolutely sickening.

Here in Ontario, the first thing the Dental Office does is figure out how much insurance you're covered for...then they work out a plan to drain it....

Can't trust anything these days ffs...

a reply to: MykeNukem

File under: Would Make a Great Horror Movie

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: JAGStorm
...or at the very least let former patients pull his teeth one by one?

I oddly know how to do this.

I have a cousin that did it for a guy.
Trouble with that was that he had to go to a doctor and have part of the guys tooth removed from his knuckle a week or so later.

a reply to: MykeNukem

So true! I've received 2 voice messages from my dentist in the last week, reminding me to come in for a cleaning! It's unreal! Covid cases are spiking in Ontario, so why leave 2 messages for me in the last week instead of contacting me in July / August when numbers were much lower? Simple, most benefit plans run from Jan to Dec so they're trying to maximise their income knowing I still have a chunk left that could be used before end of December.

originally posted by: butcherguy
I have a cousin that did it for a guy.
Trouble with that was that he had to go to a doctor and have part of the guys tooth removed from his knuckle a week or so later.

Should have used a hammer drill like a normal person.

originally posted by: TortoiseKweek
a reply to: MykeNukem

So true! I've received 2 voice messages from my dentist in the last week, reminding me to come in for a cleaning! It's unreal! Covid cases are spiking in Ontario, so why leave 2 messages for me in the last week instead of contacting me in July / August when numbers were much lower? Simple, most benefit plans run from Jan to Dec so they're trying to maximise their income knowing I still have a chunk left that could be used before end of December.

I hear ya loud and clear.

I once had to go in for a cracked molar which caused an absess, and my face swelled up like a softball on the one side....

The first thing they wanted to schedule was a deep cleaning....lmao.....I almost lost it on them, but was too sore to yell...I just looked at the dentist and he gave up that idea and pulled the molar....

Jeez...I know a kid that got a million dollar payout. The dentist restrained the kids arms during a surgery and they both broke.
That's the worst horror story I have.
My dentist is awesome.

a reply to: MykeNukem

yeah and if your not insured they dont dare tell you that your teeth are f-ed... you might not pay

just take that 150 buck for the cleaning and say your teeth look great!

IMHO thats worse than damaging them on purpose...

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: JAGStorm
...or at the very least let former patients pull his teeth one by one?

I oddly know how to do this.

I'm guessing you also saw the Korean movie "Oldboy" .
Simple but effective.