Dentist from Alaska who pulled out a patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard will go to jail for 12 years

<img src="/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/09/f40890557fcadc6d7af9fe1c5a1e5b90.jpg" alt="Dentist from Alaska who pulled out a patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard will go to jail for 12 years” />

An Anchorage, Alaska dentist who removed a patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison on dozens of charges, including Medicaid fraud.

Seth Lukhart was filmed while extracting a tooth from a patient under anesthesia. Anchorage Supreme Court Justice Michael Wolverton said Monday that Lukhart nearly killed several patients by inappropriately using sedatives for extended periods of time.

A jury found Lukhart guilty on 46 counts, including Medicaid fraud, embezzlement of funds, irresponsible criminal activity by a dentist. The dentist originally worked at Alaska Dental Arts in 2015, but the following year bought his business and changed its name to Clear Creek Dental.

Charges against Lukhart were filed in 2017. Investigators reported that he used higher doses of intravenous sedatives than necessary. In 2016, Lookhart and his former office manager, Sean Cranford, billed nearly $ 2 million in undue costs for sedatives.

Medicaid patients pay nothing for intravenous anesthesia, but the clinic may charge more for intravenous drugs than for other anesthetics. Therefore, they were usually given sedatives for longer than necessary so the clinic could bill more.

During the trial, testimony was given by former employees and patients, including a woman who had a tooth pulled out while Lucart was riding a hoverboard.

Video recorded on a mobile phone shows a dentist standing in front of a patient unconscious and pulling out her tooth while riding a hoverboard. Then he enters the corridor with his hands behind his head and turns around.

Another patient reported having four teeth removed without his permission.

Lookhart's dental license was suspended in 2017 following charges, but Wolverton ruled on Monday that the ex-dentist would not be allowed to practice medicine during his 10-year probation after being released from prison. On Monday, prosecutors ordered Lukhart to pay $ 2.2 million in compensation for fraud and embezzlement.

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