WI Dentist Who Intentionally Broke Teeth Ordered To Pay $1M: DOJ

GRAFTON, WI — A dentist who broke patients' teeth on purpose to convince insurance companies to pay for crown procedures was ordered to pay over $1 million in forfeiture and sentenced to 4½ years in prison, federal prosecutors announced Monday.

Scott Charmoli was formerly a licensed dentist but has since been sentenced for healthcare fraud and making false statements related to healthcare matters, said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Richard G. Frohling in a news release.

Charmoli ran Jackson Family Dentistry. He was the owner and sole dentist working at the office just north of Milwaukee. Prosecutors say Charmoli's scheme to defraud insurance began around 2015. He sold the crowns to patients and proceeded to break their teeth with his drill in order to convince insurance companies to pay, according to federal prosecutors.

Presiding over the case was U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who called it an unusual case of fraud. Adelman described Charmoli as "badgering" and said that the conduct not only caused physical injuries but a loss of trust in the dental profession.

Adelman said incarceration was necessary to reflect on the conduct, especially because there was no other motive than greed, the news release said.

Charmoli performed far more crown procedures than nearly every other dentist in Wisconsin, prosecutors said. He was among the top five percent of dentists performing crowns between 2016 and 2019 and had billed over $4.2 million for them amassing significant personal wealth, according to the news release.

Charmoli would send x-rays to insurance companies that showed the damage he caused and made false statements to insurance when they denied initial claims for crowns, according to prosecutors.

Charmoli will likely continue to face legal fallout moving ahead. Federal prosecutors said he is already the subject of several malpractice lawsuits from former patients, and the final amount of restitution due is still being determined.

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