This excerpt shows one of several findings in January 1992 against Luke Hurst, who was a dentist in Penn Laird.

State Board Doesn't Pull Licenses

Board Of Dentistry Rarely Shuts Down Worst Violators,
Despite Repeat Offense

By DAVID REYNOLDS
Daily News-Record

Dentists in Virginia have pulled the wrong teeth, hit children during treatment, groped and harassed teenage patients, shot up drugs during work breaks and secretly videotaped people in the office bathroom, according to public records.

Yet the dentists in all those cases kept their licenses.

One local practitioner, Dr. Luke Hurst of Penn Laird, used dirty and rusty instruments on patients and illegally gave hundreds of sedative and narcotic pills to undercover state troopers, according to case files. He went to prison for three months in 1993, but was allowed to continue practicing dentistry for a decade after his release.

Records kept by the Virginia Board of Dentistry, the profession’s legal authority, show it almost never invokes its greatest power — shutting down dentists who repeatedly put patients at risk.

The board, appointed by the governor, has seven dentists, one citizen and two dental hygienists. It sets rules for dentists in Virginia, issues licenses and can revoke them.

But it rarely does.

A lengthy Daily News-Record study finds that the board often allows problem dentists to continue practicing, even after calling them a danger to public health and safety.

The newspaper’s staff examined records for all the Virginia dentists with complaints filed against them: 588 of 4,574 dentists who were licensed as of March 31, or recently licensed. The public complaint records go back more than 20 years.

Many of the complaints against dentists are routine. Charges often are deemed unfounded after informal hearings.

Some complaints become official investigations, with formal hearings by the board, which has legal authority over dentists in Virginia, the power to curtail careers.

But the records show an enforcement board rarely willing to shut down dentists — even after felony convictions, drug addictions and unusual lapses in office sanitation and social propriety.

Many of the most troubled professionals investigated by the board continue to practice, despite instances of finding after finding of misconduct, multiple suspensions and failed rehabilitation.

Still Practicing

Records show that the board prefers tackling problems like drug addiction with treatment instead of license revocation. And it also has chosen reprimands, probation or fines, not the loss of a license, for less common behaviors.

The dentist who admitted secretly videotaping patients and employees while they used his office bathroom was fined $500 and ordered to see a psychiatrist, board records say.

He was diagnosed with “mixed personality disorder.”

The dentist was never suspended, and the state dental board lifted his probation in less than three years, according to the board’s files.

Taking Years To Find Evidence

The Virginia Board of Dentistry never inspects dentists’ offices until complaints are filed, according to Sandra Reen, the board’s executive director.

But in one case, even after a fraud complaint led to surprise office inspections, more severe problems went undocumented for almost four years.

The board reprimanded Dr. Michael McQuade, of Richmond, in September 1995 for receiving insurance reimbursements for work he didn’t do, board documents say.

He was ordered to take remedial classes and open his office to a surprise inspection. But after inspectors arrived on July 29, 1996, and found office records in disarray, the board took no action.

It would be three more years before McQuade’s problems were fully uncovered.

He was suspended in August 1999, with the board charging multiple infractions dating back to 1995. The charges say that McQuade:

■ Used the same gloves on multiple patients.

■ Drank alcohol during office hours.

■ Used “abusive, vulgar and degrading language to and in front of patients.”

■ Took naps during the day and had employees wake him for appointments.

■ Treated patients while wearing socks, no shoes.

■ Allowed dogs to urinate and defecate in the patient care area.

Also, in 1999, McQuade told an investigator with the Department of Health Professions that he used nitrous oxide recreationally, twice a week, and that he occasionally smoked marijuana.

But while it took the board of dentistry four years to uncover problems at McQuade’s office, it was only five months before it allowed him to see patients again.

His suspension lasted from Aug. 10, 1999 to Jan. 13, 2000, when it was “stayed,” with conditions, so that he could resume seeing patients, according to records.

McQuade continues to practice.

He remains under probationary conditions set by the board.

His office referred calls for comment to his attorney, William Parcell of Richmond, who said on May 18 that he’d talk to his client about this article. Parcell hasn’t returned phone calls since then.

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