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• I-Team: Small Smiles Policies
• I-Team: Small Smiles, a Mother's Warning

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THE I-TEAM REPORTS ON ABUSIVE TREATMENT AT A CHAIN OF CHILD MEDICAID DENTAL CLINICS THAT HAS TRIGGERED BROAD STATE AND FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS. ROBERTA BASKIN AND THE I-TEAM CONTINUE TO UNCOVER MORE DISTURBING PROBLEMS WITH THE SMALL SMILES DENTAL CLINICS.

ROBERTA JOINS US WITH MORE OF HER INVESTIGATION... ROBERTA?

Roberta Baskin:
THE CLINICS HAVE OPERATED UNDER DIFFERENT NAMES, BUT SMALL SMILES IS THE MOST COMMON. THEY OPERATE IN THE DISTRICT, MARYLAND, VA AND 19 OTHER STATES, AND WE CONTINUE TO FIND EVIDENCE THAT THEY'VE PURSUED PROFITS OVER PATIENT CARE.

Story:
Nat sot: "I'm five."

This is Brandon from N. Carolina showing off his mouthful of baby root canals capped in metal.

And Daniel from Colorado with abrasions and welts from visiting the dentist.

And Miguel from Maryland, strapped down on a papoose board while his mother is forced to wait outside.

Miguel's treatment was not an isolated case. The I-Team has learned that routine use of papoose boards in the Small Smiles network of clinics has injured and traumatized children, and may have played a role in this child's death.

At least a dozen states have launched civil or criminal investigations, many

of them prompted by our reports.

In Arizona…4 year old Jonathan strapped in restraints died from an overdose of anesthesia while this dentist performed five baby root canals.

Dr. Matthew Nolen: "No comment."

The state investigation found that Jonathan was restrained "for no justifiable reason" and his symptoms "could have been masked by the papoose board." The dentist's license was revoked.

Roberta Baskin: "Does the Small Smiles home office encourage the use of these papoose boards?

Doug Gardner: "Yes."

In New York Doug Gardner lost HIS dental license after being convicted of Medicaid fraud for double billing at a Small Smiles clinic.

Doug Gardner: "When you're throwing that much treatment at Medicaid that quickly, they can't check everything."

The I-Team tracked Gardner down to Indianapolis, where he agreed to speak out about Small Smiles practices for the first time.

Doug Gardner: "Taxpayer dollars are being wasted because they're paying for treatment that's not getting done, treatment that doesn't need to be done, and children aren't being treated like children."

This Small Smiles patient remembers being physically held down in the Rochester clinic two years ago.

Ashley Sones: "I was sweating. My whole body was shaking. It was like I was having a seizure."

Gardner says it was not uncommon.

Roberta Baskin: "How stressed out did these patients get?

Doug Gardner: "Stressed out enough to wet their pants, sweat completely through their clothes, be all wet."

Roberta Baskin: "And how are you told to manage that?

Doug Gardner: "Clean them up as best you can before you get them back to mom or dad."

That's another Small Smiles policy. Separating parents from children during dental procedures. In North Carolina Brandon's mom couldn't imagine what was taking three hours until he emerged with 16 baby root canals and steel caps.

Christy Dillbeck/Brandon's mother: "I couldn't stop crying cuz I was very upset and wanted to see him."

In Colorado, these police photos are evidence of young children bruised from restraints. Daniel had 8 teeth drilled and capped in one sitting.

Beatrice Ponce/Daniel's mother: "He just hears the word 'dentist' and he starts to cry and scream that he doesn't want to go in."

Dentists tell us baby root canals and caps may not always be the best treatment option for young patients, but DO result in the best reimbursement for Small Smiles.

Doug Gardner: "The Small Smiles way of taking care of children is to maximize every dollar that they can, during that patient visit, at all costs."

After Gardner's clinic was audited, Small Smiles paid back $444,000 in overcharges.

Gardner: "I've lost my career. I've lost my livelihood." "I'm unemployable now."

Except as an RV salesman in Indianapolis… where he can't forget the pressure from Small Smiles to break a million dollars in profits each year.

"The biggest thing you can do is those baby root canals and crowns cuz it's $220 that Medicaid does not question. ...its just 220, 220, 220, 220, 220."
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AS A RESULT OF OUR REPORTS, THE MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS LAUNCHED A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF SMALL SMILES.

THE CURRENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY, FORBA, TOOK OVER THE CLINICS IN SEPT 2006 AND SAYS IT CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED BEFORE THEN.

THEY DECLINED AN ON CAMERA INTERVIEW, BUT TELL US THEY'RE UNDERTAKING AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION IN MARYLAND AND THE DISTRICT.

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FORBA DENTAL MANAGEMENT CEO MICHAEL G. LINDLEY'S JAN. STATEMENT


FORBA DENTAL MANAGEMENT'S FEB. STATEMENT

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