Dentist accused of purposefully damaging teeth for insurance money

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    JACKSON, WI (WISN) — A dentist who used to own and operate a Jackson practice is accused of lying to patients, purposefully damaging their teeth, fixing the tooth and then charging them for the procedure.

A federal indictment said Dr. Scott Charmoli, former owner and operator of Jackson Family Dentistry, would convince patients they needed a crown for a cracked tooth when the tooth was never broken.

Court documents said Charmoli committed health care fraud between January 2016 through September 2019.

The indictment said Charmoli would frequently take photographs or an X-ray of the tooth and show the patient a line or a spot that Charmoli would say was a fracture.

The court documents said the patients would believe Charmoli because “he was the expert.”

The indictment said during the procedure, Charmoli would use a drill to break off a portion, most often a cusp, of the patient’s tooth.

Then, after intentionally damaging the tooth, the indictment said Charmoli would take another X-ray showing the broken tooth, then would perform the crown procedure and submit it all to insurance.

Court documents say as part of his scheme, Charmoli performed a large number of crown procedures.

In one example, the indictment accused Charmoli of performing 1,600 crown procedures over a 20-month period and billed more than $2 million.

The indictment lists eight alleged fraudulent procedures between 2017 and 2019.

Three of those procedures were done in one patient’s mouth.

On Wednesday, WISN 12 News went to Jackson Family Dentistry and was told by a spokesperson that Charmoli left the practice in August 2019.

WISN 12 News also went to Charmoli’s home and called his phone, but never reached him.

The investigation surrounding Charmoli is still ongoing.

If convicted, Charmoli faces up to 20 years in prison.

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