Smile Starters Dental, formerly Medicaid Dental Center (MDC), is a chain of dental clinics in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. As MDC, it operated under the names Smile Starters and Carolina Dental Center.Beeker, Ladonna.
Dentist closes clinic
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Archive
'' The Observer News Enterprise''. May 31, 2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2013. Historically, its owners were Letitia L. "Tish" Ballance of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

and Michael DeRose of

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. DeRose was also a partner in FORBA, the company that owns the

Small Smiles Dental Centers Small Smiles Dental Centers was a privately-owned US chain of dental clinics focused on serving children from low-income families. The parent company, Church Street Health Management (CSHM), has its headquarters in Suite 520 of the Castner-Knot ...

.Watson, Stewart.
Medicaid dentists pay taxpayers back $24 million
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''

WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office complex off Billy Graham Parkway (Ch ...

''. January 20, 2010. Retrieved on May 15, 2013. In 2008 the chain operated seven dental clinics.Wolf, Jeffrey and Deborah Sherman.
Dentist performed 'unnecessary' work on children and billed taxpayers
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KUSA-TV KUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD (channel 20). The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver' ...

9 News. April 11, 2008. Retrieved on May 15, 2013.

History

In 2003,

NewsChannel 36 I-Team aired a report showing children and parents alleging that MDC clinics had given unnecessary treatment. The news channel report stated that dentists at the chain were paid bonuses for the amount of dental work that was performed, and that the clinics of the chain separated children from parents and had performed unnecessary dental work. In 2005 the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners held a hearing on the chain's operations. That year, Ballance entered a consent order with the state dental board in which she agreed not to contest allegations from seven patients that she had performed excessive treatment. Ballance did not admit guilt. As announced in an April 2008 release by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

(USDOJ), MDC and its two owners reached a settlement with the USDOJ. The company paid back $5 million and added $5 million in fines. The chain did not admit to any wrongdoing. Ballance and DeRose were personally liable under the

False Claims Act False or falsehood may refer to: * False (logic), the negation of truth in classical logic * Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement * False statement, aka a falsehood, falsity, misstatement or untruth, is a st ...

because they submitted claims for reimbursement that involved performing unnecessary pulpotomies (colloquially "baby root canals"). In 2008 one

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by Health professional, healthcare professionals. The patient is most often Disease, ill or Major trauma, injured and in need of therapy, treatment by a physician, nurse, op ...

who had received fourteen pulpotomies in one sitting sued the chain. In 2010 the chain announced that it would pay back $24 million. By that year, one family suing the chain had settled its civil suit. On April 11, 2011, Ballance announced that her business, Carolina West Dental in

Conover, North Carolina Conover is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,421 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Hickory– Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area and Charlotte Metropolitan Area. History The Ci ...

, would close on April 15. She left

Catawba County Catawba County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,610. Its county seat is Newton, and its largest community is Hickory. The county is part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC ...

. In addition, nine dentists received sanctions in relation to their work at Medicaid Dental Center clinics. Rafael Rivera, Jr. said that he bought Smile Starters in 2008. The company changed its name to Smile Starters. In 2013 a mother of three children accused a Smile Starters clinic of fraudulently diagnosing cavities on her children. The television station ''

WTVD WTVD (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle area. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, it maintains s ...

'' aired a report about the accusation.Are some dentists doing unnecessary procedures?
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'' 11 Eyewitness News. Retrieved on May 15, 2013. (Owner information begins at 5:35)

References

External links

{{Portal, United States, Companies, Medicine
Official WebsiteEG Dental ClinicNOA Dental Clinic
Health fraud companies Dental companies of the United States Health care companies based in North Carolina

History

See also

References

External links