I have been a continually practicing full-time dentist for over 26 years and currently practice in Phoenix, Arizona. I have been a board approved consultant, or expert witness dentist, for over 20 years, adjudicating more than 1,000 dental board cases in Arizona. The primary responsibility of a board-approved consultant is to understand and define the standard of care and deviations from the standard of care. I have adjudicated cases that include failure to diagnosis, failure to treat dental conditions, dental fraud, inadequate treatment, over treatment, death of a patient, over sedation, inappropriate behaviors of a doctor and/or staff, inadequate clinical practice, inadequate treatment planning, appropriateness of care, and board generated cases due to malpractice settlements or awards. I have adjudicated cases in all fields of dentistry.
I was appointed by the Governor of the State of Arizona as their Dental Expert Witness for the Parsons’s v. Ryan class action lawsuit in 2013. I also was chosen by the Attorney General of the State of Michigan as their Dental Expert Witness for their class action lawsuit (Johannes v. Heyns) as well as Dental Defense Expert in the Federal Detainee Case in Illinois (Smego v. Mitchell).
In addition, I currently consult and provide expert reports to the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners. I developed the only board-approved template used by dental consultants and board members as a guideline to assess appropriateness of care.
Also, I have been retained as a dental expert witness in over 100 cases for both defendants and plaintiffs since the beginning of 2010 due to my expertise in the standard of care. I have over 3,000 hours of continuing education, including advanced training in prosthetics (both removable and fixed), dental implants, risk management, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Computer-Aided Design (CAD/CAM), Cone Beam Computer Tomography (CBCT), full mouth reconstruction, digital x-rays, endodontics, and lasers (both hard and soft tissue). I have been a beta tester for Dentrix, a dental software program commonly used by dentists throughout the United States, and I am familiar with other commonly used dental software programs.
Furthermore, I have lectured and done live patient demonstrations using both hard and soft tissue lasers. I have taught hundreds of dentists how to operate dental lasers, and I have published in restorative implant dentistry.
“DOCS” has utilized several suggestions I have made in establishing Standard of Care guidelines for sedation protocols as well as incorporated labels for emergency kits I help develop.
Additionally, I am a board-approved anesthesia evaluator and onsite inspection evaluator for the State of Arizona. I administer oral examinations and onsite inspections for anesthesia 1303 permits.
Lastly, I currently lecture on “The Standard of Care — What is it? What is it not?” as well as do Webinars for continuing education.