Wisconsin dentist found guilty of breaking patients’ teeth so he could fix them in fraud scheme

A Wisconsin dentist was discovered responsible of healthcare fraud and different prices after he made hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in a scheme by deliberately damaging his sufferers’ tooth and charging them for fixing the injury he brought on, based on federal prosecutors.

Scott Charmoli, 61, was convicted on March 11 of 5 counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of creating false statements associated to healthcare issues, introduced United States Legal professional Richard G. Frohling of the Jap District of Wisconsin. 

Charmoli, of Grafton, faces a most of 60 years in jail and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. 

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Within the scheme, prosecutors mentioned Charmoli, in 2015, began to aggressively promote sufferers on the necessity for crown procedures, a process the place a tooth-shaped cap is positioned on the broken tooth. 

After convincing his sufferers they wanted crowns, prosecutors mentioned Charmoli purposely broke his sufferers’ tooth with a drill through the procedures. He then submitted x-rays and pictures of the broken tooth to insurance coverage corporations to acquire insurance coverage protection for the crowns.

Insurance coverage corporations believed these pictures represented the pre-operative situation of the tooth and paid the claims, prosecutors mentioned. 

A affected person, Todd Tedeschi, testified that Charmoli satisfied him to get two crowns executed directly, so he might keep away from having to repeat anesthesia – regardless that Tedeschi believed his tooth had been advantageous. 

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“It appeared extreme, however I did not know any higher,” Tedeschi mentioned, based on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He was the skilled. I simply trusted him.”

Charmoli billed over $4.2 million for crown procedures between 2016 and 2019, and he carried out extra crowns than 95% of Wisconsin dentists in every of these years, prosecutors mentioned, citing information from an insurance coverage firm.

Charmoli carried out greater than 700 crown procedures yearly between 2015 and 2019, prosecutors added. 

Prosecutors mentioned proof additionally confirmed Charmoli made false statements to dental insurers after they denied preliminary claims from crown protection. 

The scheme was revealed after Charmoli offered the apply in 2019. Whereas reviewing recordsdata, the brand new homeowners realized the variety of crown procedures was out of the bizarre. 

In December 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Charmoli. 

Practically 100 of Charmoli’s former sufferers have additionally sued him for medical malpractice, nevertheless, these instances will not begin till the end result of the federal prosecution, the paper reported. 

Charmoli’s license to apply dentistry within the state of Wisconsin has been suspended since February final 12 months. He was first licensed in 1986.