Kentucky dentist who pulled teeth that weren't bad sentenced to prison

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader


Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader 7 hrs ago

Lexington Herald-Leader logoKentucky dentist who pulled teeth that weren't bad sentenced to prison


An Eastern Kentucky dentist who admitted getting higher payments from Medicaid through inflated bills has been sentenced to four months in prison.

Denver "Dickie" Tackett also must serve six months of home detention after his prison sentence, repay $70,012 to Medicaid and pay the government $20,000.

U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove sentenced Tackett on Tuesday.

Tackett, who practiced for more than 30 years at McDowell, in Floyd County, pleaded guilty in August to a charge of health care fraud.

Tackett acknowledged that he submitted claims for treating patients that were not reasonable and necessary between 2003 and 2018.


Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/kentucky-dentist-who-pulled-teeth-that-werent-bad-sentenced-to-prison/ar-BB1c38Iu?li=BBnb7Kz

[keithsw]

1. And I guarantee

This guy is a Trump voter and tells everyone he's a " Good Christian "

[LittleGirl]

2. Love to hate dentists

There are real cons out there!

[mitch96]

7. " dentist who pulled teeth that weren't bad"

Sorry to say I have had that experience with most dentist..I was fortunate to have all my teeth in my later years. I would go to a new dentist for a check up. I would open my mouth and you would think the dentist hit a gold mine... "Well we can take out those pesky four back molars for you"....
To the tune of a few thousand dollars...... There was nothing wrong with them....Ahh no..
What is it... Need to make a Benz payment? Alimony payment? and And AND.. THEY GET UPSET WHEN I SAY NO!! I had one ass try to get me in his "study group" on using cadaver bone to build up bone loss AND I WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE WORK...I mean give me a f**k'n break..
The only time I have not been screwed over blatantly was at a dental clinic run by a dental school.
Doctors training doctors. I had some good students and some not so good students.
Sorry to say it's always a crap shoot... YMMV
m

[drray23]

30. exactly the same experience here. When I asked why they wanted to take out the wisdom teeths he said

that its too hard to work on them if they get infected so we might as well preemptively remove them.. And yes, I was supposed to go to a dental surgeon and that would have been around 4K total.

[CountAllVotes]

14. +1

No kidding! I've run into more than I care to admit!

[Raine1967]

3. First thing I thought when I saw the headline:

[appalachiablue]

11. +1 Ditto!

[COL Mustard]

4. Is It Safe?

....sorry, couldn't resist.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

29. The book was better than the movie and the movie was excellent.

[Archae]

5. What about his victims?

Ever TRY suing a doctor or dentist for malpractice?

Even if the malpractice is so egregious the guy practically makes an evil laugh, suing is a very dicey propect, at best.

And if the guy being sued has no insurance, all he has to is declare banktrupcy.

Just look how the Boy Scout organization and the Catholic church is or is trying to use bankruptcy to escape judgements.

I sued a ER doctor for botching the fact she never took an x-ray after a fall, turned out later I had a broken collarbone.
(I got nothing.)

The ER doctor FINALLY lost her license after she let a little boy die.

[kellytore]

15. So true! Attorneys will tell you that suing a doctor is very difficult.

A malpractice attorney could spend around 40k or more to try the case. There is something called 'causation' that makes winning a case even more difficult. This is why when the republicans talk about tort reform because of frivolous lawsuits in the medical field, it is total BS. There is no way an attorney will take on a frivolous malpractice suit, because it costs them too much time and money to try it.

[Mosby]

19. They hide their mistakes, even hospitals don't have access to the database.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/2018/12/20/how-database-doctor-records-should-fixed-help-patients/2356705002/

[bucolic_frolic]

6. I've met a few who ought to be in jail

[pansypoo53219]

8. how many teeth did he pull? 1 month per tooth i say. can we pull his out?

[panader0]

9. Yes. While he's in jail he should have his teeth pulled.

I had a tooth pulled across the line in Naco, and the dentist asked me if I wanted novocaine.
I guess the more macho guys don't want it but I did.

[Hotler]

10. Marathon Man, strap him to a chair and take a drill to him. nt

[yaesu]

12. I could have kept him out of trouble, I have enough bad teeth to keep him busy for years

or not

[Bengus81]

13. Ohhhh...four months!! That's really harsh...........

Are your FUCKING kidding me? Make that POS do all ten months in a lockup and he can do dental work for FREE.

[Turbineguy]

16. Kentucky has

a few Senators he could learn from so he wouldn't get caught.

[progree]

17. And in Wisconsin - Wisconsin dentist accused of breaking teeth in fraud scheme

https://kstp.com/minnesota-news/wisconsin-dentist-accused-of-breaking-teeth-in-fraud-scheme/5955130/?cat=12196

A Wisconsin dentist is accused of damaging his patients' teeth so that he could bill insurance companies for crown procedures.

Scott Charmoli, 60, of Grafton, was charged Tuesday in federal court with eight counts of health care fraud and two counts of false statements. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Charmoli is accused of falsely telling patients that they needed crowns and then using his drill to break off parts their teeth during the procedure. Charmoli submitted X-rays and photographs of the chipped teeth to insurance companies to obtain coverage for the crowns, the indictment says.

Authorities say Charmoli performed more than $2 million worth of crown procedures between January 2018 and August 2019.

... An arraignment and plea hearing are scheduled for Dec. 30.

[Archae]

22. I saw that, talk about a greedy MF'er!

[Paladin]

18. I guess even MORE trump whores will stop going to dentists, based on this.

Based on the way trump's crowds look at his Nuremburg rallies, a good portion of them haven't been to dentists in years and years.

[tenderfoot]

20. From another article...

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2019/04/18/kentucky-dentist-denver-tackett-accused-needlessly-pulling-teeth-health-care-fraud/3505767002/

The Tackett Family Dentistry page promotes a friendly Christian work environment and shows photos of the dentist posing with a girl after her dental procedure and on a bended knee talking to another child. He posted a video of himself drawing a name to offer free dental services.

"You're the lucky winner," he said. "You get to come down here and hear me sing. Amen. We love each and every one of ya. Thank you and God bless you."

The dentist was charged during an Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force initiative.

It unites prosecutors and data analysts trained in these types of cases with several federal agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, postal service officials, the IRS and others.

[Judi Lynn]

27. The article includes other grifters, too, at the end. Insane! Appalachia. Yikes. Thanks. 🦷️

[TuxedoKat]

21. Make should make him

pay for implants for all the teeth he pulled that didn't need to be pulled.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Outstanding idea. Hope it's implemented someday for these situations. n/t

[Joinfortmill]

23. Only thing worse than a sadistic dentist is a greedy one.

[LudwigPastorius]

24. !

[cab67]

25. Is he going to make restitution to his victims?

If I found out a dentist pulled out one of my teeth without any real medical reason, that dentist would be paying for my daughter's college tuition. And her wedding. And her retirement.

[OldkySoul]

26. Happens more

than it should..my brother, sister, and myself had this happen in Ohio and Ky.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. My dentist told me about this practice.

She's mercury free and awesome! A lot of dentists will pull baby teeth to get money from Medicaid. Healthy baby teeth with no cavities. She said the guy she heard about said they were "preventive extractions".

[dalton99a]

32. Disgusting.