State Board Investigates Dental Clinic Soliciting

The California Board of Dental Examiners said Thursday it is examining whether the dental clinic that treated a 4-year-old boy who died last week illegally paid solicitors to round up customers, including the boy’s family.

John Herai, supervising investigator for the board’s southern region, also said his office would look into charges of Medi-Cal fraud made in a lawsuit by former marketers for Megdal Dental Care “as soon as we can speak to them.”

The dental board learned of the soliciting and the lawsuit from a Times reporter.

Community advocates and state officials say the use of solicitors can lead to unsafe treatment in overcrowded facilities.

Philip Megdal, founder of Megdal Dental Care, and his attorney, William Kent, said the solicitations were legally done through a corporate subsidiary that was licensed with the state.

They also denied any Medi-Cal fraud.

Javier Villa died last week after being given a sedative. His death is under investigation.

Villa’s father said a promoter passing out fliers outside the Megdal clinic in Santa Ana persuaded him to bring his son and daughter inside, promising a free teeth cleaning for his wife.

The Dental Practice Act of the Business and Professions Code prohibits dentists from “the employing or making use of solicitors.”

“Based on what I’ve been told, it does seem like they’re having solicitors go out, and the section of law is pretty clear,” Herai said.

Herai and executive staff for the dental board said they wanted to investigate charges made by a couple in an Orange County lawsuit that they were paid an $85-$95 commission for each patient they brought to Megdal clinics. Lucero and Oscar Paez say their company, California Family Services, is owed $54,000 for the 100 to 200 patients they brought to six clinics each week. The lawsuit said they were fired after they asked Megdal officials to stop padding Medi-Cal bills.

The Paezes and their attorney, Gary Gebler, said they had tried to report their contentions to the dental board on four occasions and never received a call back. Lucero Paez said she also had no luck with the Orange County district attorney and a Medi-Cal hotline.

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A review of court documents also shows that a dozen patients have won judgments or received settlements from Philip Megdal and Megdal Dental Care for dental malpractice and dental negligence since 1983. The state dental board has taken no disciplinary action against Megdal in the 30 years he has been licensed in the state.

Megdal himself did not work on any of the patients who sued.

In the most serious lawsuit, 17-year-old Eric Gilsdorf was awarded $171,686 after he nearly died following a tooth extraction at the Megdal clinic in Lawndale, according to the suit.

Gilsdorf was hospitalized for 12 days, underwent a tracheotomy and suffered permanent scarring, according to the suit.

In a 1991 case, Newport Beach flight attendant Denise Cox received a $50,000 settlement after she said three dentists at a Megdal clinic had caused permanent damage to her teeth by doing unnecessary fillings to drive up fees.

In 1986, Cecilia Rose settled for $50,000 after a piece of dental gauze was left in her sinuses, and she had to have surgery to figure out why she had chronic respiratory problems.

Philip Megdal said he had never heard of the patients who sued.

“This is a very litigious society,” Megdal said. “Our insurance company orders us to settle, so we do.”

Megdal also denied any legal responsibility for work done by dentists at the clinics that bear his name, saying he was just the landlord.

But he said he was extremely upset by Villa’s death.

“Do I cry every night over the death of that little boy? Yes, I do.”

Investigators from the dental board and the Santa Ana police Wednesday executed a search warrant on the Santa Ana clinic and Megdal’s corporate offices.

Kent said he believed patient files were taken.

The dental board is also investigating whether Miguel Garcia, the supervising dentist of the Santa Ana clinic when Villa died, has a legitimate dental degree from a university in the Dominican Republic.

Garcia received his degree from the Universidad Central del Este in 1984, according to the dental board. The school, along with two other Dominican universities, may have granted 2,000 fraudulent degrees related to medical fields, according to a New York Times article in 1984.

Garcia said he his lawyer had advised him not to answer questions from reporters.

But Megdal defended him. “That is an absolute, total crock. . . . I can assure you if he didn’t have a diploma, I would know it in about 30 seconds. He’s an excellent, competent dentist.”

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In an interview about her lawsuit, Lucero Paez said she, her husband, and up to six staff members at a time would visit schools, street fairs and “anywhere where you would find a mass of people” to bring to the Megdal clinics. “The point was volume. We wanted to make money.”

But after reviewing computer print-outs of the work performed, and listening to complaints of people they drove home from appointments, she said she and her husband realized Megdal personnel “were padding Medi-Cal bills, back dating the bills, and mama mia, putting these people through treatment they did not need to make more money.”

She said at least 15 dental chairs at a time were filled with waiting patients, while two to four dentists would go from room to room doing work. Kent, Megdal’s attorney, confirmed her claim that dentists were paid a commission and bonuses based on the amount of work done.

Community health advocate Jamie Court of Santa Monica said the practice of paying commissions for patients can lead to substandard care because the dentists may be more interested in “high turnover and high insurance payments than proper patient care.”

He said he was not familiar with the Megdal clinics.

State investigator Herai agreed with Court. “Typically when you do have a situation when a dental office is overloaded with patients, you will start to see dental care not up to standards.” But Megdal denied that any poor care might result from bringing in large numbers of customers.

“We only practice the best dentistry. We only do quality stuff, we don’t cheat people, we don’t defraud people. We live basically by the 10 Commandments.”

Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Lorenza Munoz and Esther Schrader contributed to this story.