root canals

Dental Care: Dentist Uses Paper Clips for Root Canals

January 31, 2012 By Jim Du Molin 1 Comment

Paper clips for dental patient root canals and Hydrocone for the dental staff — does this sound like a normal dental practice to you?

It doesn’t to Maryland Superior Court Judge Richard Moses, who is scheduled to sentence former dentist Michael Clair on one count of tampering with evidence, one count of witness intimidation, two counts of assault and battery, three counts of illegally prescribing controlled substances, three counts of larceny, and five counts of Medicaid fraud.

Sounds like the legal system is having a good time working Dr. Clair over. But was it deserved . . . absolutely!

Dr. Michael Clair fraudulently billed Medicaid for $130,000 between August 2003 and June 2005. At that time he was licensed to practice dentistry, but had been prohibited from doing work on Medicaid patients. Investigators allege Clair performed the work and then had other dentists in the practice submit bills to Medicaid.

The investigation also charged that Clair twice used paper clips rather than the more expensive stainless steel posts to strengthen teeth given a root canal. Investigators also charged Clair with prescribing Hydrocodone, Combunox and Percocet to staff members, who in turn gave some of the medicine back to him.

Clair has admitted guilty to all the charges.

Filed Under: Dental Care, Dental Editorials, Dental News Tagged With: Dental Care, dental fraud, Dental News, dentist, dentistry, dentists, Medicaid Fraud, root canal treatment, root canals

Endodontists Want Dentists to Refer Root Canals (video)

April 4, 2011 By Catherine Hughes Leave a Comment

root canal survey Root canals might be something patients dread, but a lot of dentists like doing them — except for the ones who hate them!

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey that asked dentists if the they treat root canals or refer them out to endodontists. This survey elicited a variety of colorful responses.

Many endodontists wished GP dentists would quit attempting to do root canals PERIOD.

Several urban dentists acknowledged they do not enjoy performing root canals and always refer them out, whereas rural dentists stated that they almost never refer their patients out for root canals.

Rural dentists are distinctly more likely to treat root canals themselves, while urban and suburban dentists tend to refer out almost all their root canals.

A Nevada endodontist wrote, “If every dentist could spend one week in my endodontic practice, they would all stop doing endodontics. It is an absolute tragedy . . . the quality of work is terrible. I see so many hacked-up teeth with gigantic accesses, separated files, perforated roots, etc . . . It is embarrassing. I cannot tell patients their dentist is worthless and should never do another root canal in his life . . . “

Click on play to watch the video -

100-Root_Canal_Referrals.mp4

For more on this survey see: Root Canals: Who Needs an Endodontist?

Filed Under: Dental Videos, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental marketing surveys, dental referrals, dental survey videos, dentists, Endodontists, referring out, root canals, videos

Dentist Referrals: Dental Implants, Cosmetic Dentistry & Braces

November 2, 2010 By Julie Frey 7 Comments

Dentists tend to restore dental implants but refer out dental implant surgery, this survey found.

The average dentist often refers out braces, sedation dentistry, and root canals, while keeping cosmetic dentistry, and denture patients.

When it comes to pediatric dentistry and gum disease, dentists refer some patients out and treat others in house.

Overall, the average dentist refers out less than 20% of patients.

Here are some dentist comments on referring patients:

“Impacted wisdom teeth and molar endodontics are referred out 100%. Everything else is decided case by case.” (North Carolina dentist)
“Some patients have such poor dental insurance for certain procedures, I’d rather let a specialist do the treatment.” (Nevada dentist)
“I think most dental implants should be placed by either oral surgeons or periodontists because in my community, a lot of the dental implants placed by general dentists fail.” (Alabama dentist)
“I refer out general anesthesia, but most anxious patients do well in office with oral sedation.” (New York dentist)

Filed Under: Dental Care, Dental Implants, Dental Surveys Tagged With: braces, cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, dentist, dentures, root canals, sedation dentistry

Root Canal Dentist Uses Paper Clips in Surgery

March 28, 2010 By Julie Frey 1 Comment

A Massachusetts dentist accused of using paper clips in root canal procedures has been indicted on 13 charges.

The dentist pinched pennies by using pieces of paper clips instead of stainless steel posts – though that didn't stop him from billing Medicaid for the more expensive materials he didn't bother to use.

The charges against him include assault and battery, larceny, submitting false Medicaid claims (using other doctors' provider numbers), and illegally prescribing drugs (Hydrocodone, Combunox and Percocet).

Between 2003 and 2005, he is estimated to have submitted at least $130,000 in fraudulent Medicaid bills. But it's his use of office supplies in root canal therapy that's garnered the most attention. (This root canal treatment is definitely not endodontist-approved!) In fact, some of his root canal patients still have paper clips in their mouths.

Read more about how NOT to cure root canal pain: Charge: Paper clips used in root canals

Filed Under: Funny Dental News Tagged With: dentist, endodontist, paper clip, paper clips, root canal, root canals

Root Canal Party When Lil’ Wayne Visits Dentist

February 20, 2010 By Julie Frey 10 Comments

Root canal treatment doesn't usually make celebrity gossip news… But Lil' Wayne changed that recently after getting a whopping 8 root canals during a single 8-hour appointment.

He was recently found guilty of felony attempted gun possession, but the judge allowed him to take care of his dental work before reporting to jail for his sentence.

The rapper's latest CD is #4 on the Billboard charts, but he may be best known for sporting a jewel-encrusted tooth grill.

As a dentist, you probably already suspected that dental grills (or "grillz") are not good for one's oral health… But a 27-year-old who needs eight root canals?!?

It's not exactly clear just what sort of dental care he received, but reports suggest that he had some existing dental implants restored, got a few new tooth implants – and, of course, had his grill "tuned up."

"When you're as rich as he is, you don't brush your teeth, you just replace them every year or so," posted one commenter.

It's remarkable that someone for whom money is no object would opt for root canal therapy instead of just going straight for dental implant surgery… At any rate, let's just hope he saw a sedation dentist for that grueling 8-hour session!