Thread: Police put bite on home dentistry

Police put bite on home dentistry
Man charged with having illegal practice in apartment

By GEORGE CHIDI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/18/07

There was nothing neighbors saw or heard to give away the presence of an alleged back-room dental office in a Lawrenceville apartment complex.

No one heard power drills or elevator music. Some neighbors saw visitors coming and going at odd hours, but not enough to raise suspicions.


Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department
(ENLARGE)
Jesus J. Urdaneta-Casanova is charged with practicing dentistry without a license. He faces 2-5 years in prison if convicted.

If an inopportune water leak had not led maintenance workers to Wesley Place apartment No. 1011, it might have taken an injury to raise suspicions. But the discovery of dental tools and records led to the arrest Wednesday of Jesus J. Urdaneta-Casanova, 29. He is charged with practicing medicine without a license. If convicted, an unlicensed dentist faces two to five years in prison and a fine from $500 to $1,000.

Two or three times a week, stran-gers would knock on Casanova's door, said Rebecca DeJonghe, who lives across the hall. They wouldn't stay long, she said.

DeJonghe, who is studying to be a dental assistant, never suspected a dental office might be operating across the hall.

"I thought it was some kind of dinner thing. It kind of caught my eye, but I let it go," DeJonghe said. "It's making sense now."

Wednesday afternoon, Pearl Pierre was sitting with a friend in an apartment below the alleged back-room dental office, she said. Water began dripping from the ceiling, slowly at first. "Next thing, it's raining inside," Pierre said.

They ran to the leasing office for help. The staff sounded like they didn't believe the leak was that bad, Pierre said. After some convincing, management sent a repair team.

Inside, the crew found the implements for a fully-functional dental office, police said.

Masked police officers arrived, said Matt Goforth, a neighbor. Police started hauling out dental equipment and boxes with what looked like medical records inside, he said.

Police said they don't know how many patients Casanova might have seen in his apartment on Sweetwater Club Drive. Illegal dentistry operations are rarely reported because their clients often are undocumented aliens.

A Lawrenceville woman landed in the hospital in October after a botched tooth extraction in a Norcross apartment-turned-dental office. The woman paid $70 for an extraction, but the unlicensed dentist hadn't stitched up her gums after extracting the tooth, she told police. Her gums became infected, and she had to go to Northside Hospital.

Two weeks ago, police arrested an illegal immigrant in Carrollton on charges that he ran an unlicensed dental practice from his home. Authorities said the man used pliers, box cutters and etching blades he bought at a hardware store to pull teeth, fill cavities and create dentures. In that case, authorities searched his home and found prescription drugs, hypodermic needles and a ledger detailing cash payments from more than 100 people.

The discovery of back-room dentist operations are disturbing, said Dr. Donna Moses, president-elect of the Georgia Dental Association. Many of the association's 4,000 dentists offer some services for free to indigent clients, she said.

"We want to protect these patients," Moses said. Patients looking for indigent services can call the association at 404-636-7553 for help finding a dentist, she said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... ntist.html

Truly unbelievable

This crap is all part of their culture.

Sounds like a clinic south of the border

Authorities said the man used pliers, box cutters and etching blades he bought at a hardware store to pull teeth,

Would they have busted him if he was here illegally?