Also, found this interesting article about “deadly dentistry.” http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/deadly-dentistry/index.html
Medicaid dentistry is an interesting business in my state. Yes of course we want everyone to have healthy teeth, but I have for sure seen some questionable things - one of my employees got free invisalign, and to hear her tell the story, it was cosmetic. At least that is “just” waste and fraud. This story is a bazillion times worse.
Rarely is any othodonture ‘just’ cosmetic. Most straightening involves alignment and bite changes. It really does make a huge difference.
I don’t think I’d let any dental office do anesthesia on a small child. When my daughter needed surgery in the NICU, they brought the anesthesiologist over from Children’s Hospital. In fact, one day a friend who IS an anesthesiologist was visiting and one of the nurses said something like ‘720 today, that’s good.’ A second later he kind of did this doubletake and asked “Is that her weight?” When I said yes, he said “That’s why I don’t work on children, the math is too much.”
When my oldest was turning 3, we took him to a pediatric dentist as that was the recommendation in those days (he is now 26). The dentist said that he had 6 cavities caused by still using a bottle to go to sleep at night. As the bottle was something H insisted on, I scheduled the appointment for the fillings for a day when I knew H would have to take him. The dentist did NOT put him under sedation but did numb him enough so that he wasn’t in pain. At my instruction, H stayed in the room with them.
After the procedure, my son was fine but H came home and threw out all of the baby bottles, including those used by our DD, who was 21 months at the time. The three following kids were all weaned off the bottle by their first birthdays at the latest.
It is interesting but, to this day, my oldest son has the worst teeth of the bunch while my youngest has never had a cavity.
With that said, I agree that this dentist should be prosecuted for manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide or whatever the state he is in allows. It goes without saying that his license should be forfeited. NO legitimate dentist would do this. It’s disgusting.
Horrible story. As a general dentist, I refer to a pediatric dentist who uses behavioral methods to get children to co-operate during treatment. I know he frequently utilizes nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and local anesthetics, of course, but doesn’t do any other type of sedation. In the rare instances the child is uncontrollable in his office (usually a special needs child), he will refer to another practice with hospital privileges.
However, behavioral methods take time and his fees reflect that. To be profitable under Medicaid or low fees, the dentist needs to sedate the child and get as much work done as possible each visit. In the OP’s linked case, if it is found that there was indeed no dental disease present, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, in addition to permanent revocation of his license to practice. If it is Medicaid fraud, that would cetainly include jail time.
It’s not only Medicaid that engenders this. Years ago, I had top notch dental insurance. The dentist we were seeing kept trying to sell me on Invisalign braces for my third son. He has rarely had a cavity and has beautiful teeth. One is a tiny bit crooked but it actually makes him look real because he’s otherwise a very handsome looking kid. I saw no need for it. I switched dentists after the office tech told my son that if his parents really cared about him, we would get him the braces! I was infuriated. My son knows that if H and I believed that he needed braces, he would have had them. The two oldest had braces - they are the ones who had bottles for too long.
I don’t blame you. Did you send a letter to the dentist about that conversation?
I was only referring to the practice models of pediatric dentists. A dentist (or any other professional) who tries to hard sell an elective procedure for personal gain is a different ethical issue. If this becomes a “complain about dentists” thread, I’m sure there will be no shortage of responses.
Back to the original topic, I also think papoose boards are barbaric.
Several comments. First, a 14 month old toddler is NOT a baby. A pediatric anesthesiologist is NOT necessary- we regular anesthesiologist take care of most kids. In a hospital (or good surgery center), with general anesthesia using an endotracheal tube to secure the airway for these kids who require extensive dental work. I have done cases where the child needed caps et al on their baby teeth. Most usual cause was the parents letting the child have a bottle with milk ad lib, often when going to bed. This allows the milk acids to have prolonged contact with the teeth, causing the decay. For various reasons (I asked dentists) the kids need good teeth before their permanent ones come in. I don’t see a papoose board as barbaric, I see it as a way to swaddle a kid without hurting him/her by trying to restrain them in other ways. I have recollections of the hardest part of taking care of kids was getting cooperation to be able to do what was needed to safely do the job quickly (not prolonging the fears et al).
There are some bad professionals out there in any field. Adults have also died in the hands of those who misuse anesthetic drugs, especially in non hospital/surgery center settings.
^^ My daughter weighed 14 pounds when she was 14 months old. I would not have let her have anesthesia in a dental office or with other than a pediatric anesthesiologist. Of course, she had exactly zero teeth at 14 months, so it wasn’t an issue.
Children do need to have their teeth cared for, cavities filled, crowns if needed.
Friends were foster parents to a toddler taken from parents due to neglect. All this baby’s teeth were rotted away due to having been left with a bottle, and she had stainless steel crowns put in so that she could learn to chew. 
I know there is a lot of fraud, but there are also a lot of dentists who do amazing, important work. I don’t know what happened to the little girl (she was eventually returned to her mother) but hope that she now has a full set of her own, adult teeth and no memories of all that early childhood dental work.
It seems to me that if you get up in the morning with intent to go to steal some money (bank robbery; or drilling teeth that have no cavities), and something consequential happens (security guard has a heart attack and dies; or child dies under anesthesia) then there is no legal distinction between the two cases.
Some of the responses here seem surprisingly mild (insurance fraud, lose license, etc.).
I also wonder about the culpability of an anesthesiologist who knows full well that the dentist is doing nonsense busywork is gain money. Seems both should be equally at fault.
I disagree with the above both equally at fault statement. A physician is not expected to know dentistry. Likewise the reason I do not expect other specialists, dentists or other physicians to have the same knowledge an anesthesiologist does. I also know that well trained general anesthesiologists are competent in taking care of infants and children in regular hospitals. Those children deemed in need of specialized pediatric services should be at children’s hospitals- where there will be pediatric anesthesiologists. Otherwise healthy children and those with typical problems are easily understood by and taken care of by regular physicians in the practice of anesthesiology (I am biased against nurse anesthetists for various reasons/uses). Likewise many parents do and should take their normal children to family practitioners as well as to pediatricians.
Last article in the paper I saw shows the dentist’s practice sueing the “expert witness” who claimed there was no dental disease present. It is not yet clear if there were or were not significant cavities in the poor toddler’s mouth.
*Nrdsb4 -
I didn’t send a letter but H did speak with the dentist about it. I don’t know what he told him but we never went back to that practice.
I remember (vaguely) having root canal at about age 5. I recall sitting on the top of a slide, drinking something grape tasting and then sliding down the slide into a dental chair. My parents told me the grape stuff was to put me to sleep. Apparently, I needed the root canal so that my adult teeth would grow in properly. My mom said she stayed in the room with me. It was not at my usual dentist office but at a specialist. This was 50 years ago.
@anxiousmom - Was the dentist indicated for manslaughter?