More Smile Center complaints

Jake was in Santa Rosa Children's Hospital for four days. His mother, Jodie Hernandez, was by his side during the whole ordeal.

“I was upset to see him in so much pain. I was upset to see them in the hospital putting needles in my son. Having to do surgery. Them saying he might be blind if the infection would get into the blood stream of his eyes,” said Jodie.

Jake is ok now, playing like a normal seven year old after the infected tooth was surgically extracted. But now his parents are dealing with their five year old daughter Jade Lynn who also had work done at The Smile Center. She was prescribed antibiotics because of an infection after one of her caps fell out.

“This doesn't need to be happening to these kids just for profit or whatever it is that's going on, you know,” said Robert Hernandez.

The Hernandez's and several other families called us after watching our recent investigation into The Smile Center. That investigation uncovered other children with mouths full of silver caps that were falling out and infections.

Since then former employees of the dental chain, like Tiffany Tetmyer, came forward.

“It was terrible. We would hear screaming and screaming and screaming. They told us it was the normal reaction to the sedation they gave them, but it was just terrible, the screams,” said Tetmyer.

Tiffany said she heard those screams while working at several Smile Center locations over the past year. She says the children were strapped down in something called a papoose board. Their mouths were numbed but they were still awake while the dentist drilled down their teeth to cap them. After the procedures, Tiffany said many parents came back.

“They would come back with complaints. Several times the caps would fall off, and fall off and fall off, and a lot would come back and complain their child’s lips were really swollen,” said Tetmyer.

Tiffany's says her primary job was recruiting patients. She spent months soliciting patients at shopping centers, like a Smile Center employee we found near a WIC (Women Infants Children) office.

“They wanted us to mainly target Medicaid patients because they cover all of the dental.

We had a quota of 20 appointments a day. We had to get 20 appointments. If we got less than 10, they threatened us with a write up,” said Tiffany.

Tetmyer gave us copies of write ups she said she got when she didn't book enough patients.

But that doesn't seem to have hurt the Smile Center's bottom line. As we reported, The Smile Center locations around town have made $26 million off Medicaid since 2007.

According to Tiffany, everyone at The Smile Center gets bonuses.

“The office has a daily quota they have to reach and I believe depending on the dentist and the day it ranges from $7,500 to $12,000. And if we hit that goal they would give us a bonus check every month. And it would range from $200 to $600,” said Tetmyer.

Tiffany said she called us because she feels bad about what's happening at The Smile Center.

“I referred a lot of those children there and they were hurt because I said it was a good place to go and I was wrong, and I don't want anyone to feel the pain those children suffered any more,” said Tetmyer.

We've confirmed investigators for the state agency that administers Medicaid do have an open case involving The Smile Center. Also, several parents we interviewed hired attorneys.

We contacted the Smile Center’s attorney about these latest allegations but they have not responded. Click here to see their response to our original story.

If you have a problem with a dentist contact either the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners or the Office of the Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit

PO Box 12307
Austin, Texas 78711-2307
(512) 463-2011
(800) 252-8011 (Main agency switchboard)
mfcu@oag.state.tx.us