Dental Center and Dentist Sued for Grossly Unnecessary Care
When a mother took her 5 year-old child to a Charlotte, N.C. dental center to have her teeth cleaned, little did she know she would put her baby in the hands of a crooked dentist. The dentist performed 14 pulpotomies, similar to root canals, and mounted 14 stainless steel crowns on Antavia’s baby teeth the same day. Further, the employees of the center restrained Antavia by tying her down on a “papoose board” and refused to allow her mother in the room. Angela Digsby, Antavia’s mother, expectedly filed suit against the Medicaid Dental Center, alleging dental malpractice. The lawsuit was filed after the clinic owners agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that they made fraudulent claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program for unnecessary dental work on poor children. In the suit it was stated that the dentists and co-owners of the Medicaid Dental Center policy was to “perform as much treatment as possible in one appointment.” This is not the first such malpractice incident at the clinic. In 2003 allegations were revealed that the center performed unnecessary dental work on children. In 2005 the N.C. Board of Dental Examiners disciplined nine dentists after an investigation revealed questionable practices. According to board documents, at least eight children, some as young as 4, had multiple teeth pulled and root canals performed during single appointments at MDC clinics. Some had as many as 16 pulpotomies and stainless steel crowns during the same visit.
