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The 46-year-old Bluffton resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he called the dentist to his home a little more than a year ago after having gum pain for several weeks. A 45-year-old Ridgeland woman showed up with dental equipment, including a drill, a paste to make teeth molds and topical anesthetic. She wore gloves during the procedures, he said.
She returned about a week later to install two crowns she claimed were made by a laboratory in Texas, he said, and she charged him $1,600.
The man's pain didn't subside, and after visiting a Hilton Head Island dentist, he learned the crowns weren't properly placed and that he had a large hole in a tooth she treated. The real dentist told him that botched job would cost $4,000 to repair, the man said.
Regulators with the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation began investigating the woman May 1 after a complaint was filed, department spokesman Jim Knight said earlier this week. The woman has never held a dental or dental hygienist license in the state, he said. The woman's name didn't appear on any searches of dental licenses in Georgia and North Carolina.
Knight declined to comment further Thursday, citing an ongoing investigation. No charges have been filed, but the S.C. Board of Dentistry issued a cease and desist order on the woman, Knight said.
A Hilton Head Island dentist who treated the man after the incident confirmed his story Thursday, but could not comment further because of laws governing disclosure of patient information. The dentist turned over that information to investigators.
The man who got the crowns said he was unaware the woman didn't have a license, but he never asked for her credentials. He said she came highly recommended by a friend, and he knew several people who had been treated by her, all of whom were Hispanic.
He said he is a legal resident and only went to her because he was told she worked fast, was professional and didn't charge much.
It is unclear how many people the woman treated or how long she practiced dentistry in the area.
The woman's name is not being released because no charges have been filed against her. Several calls made to a phone number listed to her address have not been returned.
Practicing dentistry without a license is a misdemeanor and carries a maximum six-month prison term and $1,000 fine per offense.
IMMIGRANT POPULATION TARGETED
State investigators believe the unlicensed dentist treated mostly immigrants in the area, a Beaufort County sheriff's report said.
Some immigration experts were puzzled by the case because they said there have been major improvements in how medical facilities handle undocumented immigrants and the uninsured.
"There has really been a push for doctors' offices, free clinics and even dentists' offices to treat these patients without asking for a Social Security card," said Elaine Lacy, a history professor at the University of South Carolina at Aiken. "Doctors' offices will just let them pay on a scale."
Tammy Beshere, an attorney with the advocacy group S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia, said she was unaware of another incident involving an unlicensed dentist targeting the Hispanic community.
"It's pretty rare to hear of an unlicensed doctor or dentist taking advantage of them. You predominantly hear about people posing as lawyers saying they can help with immigration paperwork," Beshere said. "It's sad because in any of these incidents they know their victims aren't going to complain to the police."
Several dentists on Hilton Head declined to comment for this story but said they hoped the incident could be used to educate the uninsured that Volunteers in Medicine offers free medical and dental services, regardless of the patient's immigration status. To be eligible for VIM, patients bring documentation to prove they make at or below twice the federal poverty line and have no effective insurance.
The Bluffton man who was treated by the woman wishes he had gone to a clinic or to an established dentist in the area.
"I know it's stupid," the man said. "It's my fault I went to her. It's my fault I'm in this situation, and I should have gone to a real dentist in the first place ... but she really messed up my teeth. I'm embarrassed by this."
