Dentist who pulled out patient’s tooth while riding HOVERBOARD found guilty of unlawful dental acts

A dentist in Alaska who removed a woman’s tooth while riding a hoverboard, has been found guilty on 46 counts after his reckless act led to a wider probe which revealed he’d defrauded Medicaid out of $1.9million. 

Seth Lookhart was filmed operating on Veronica Wilhelm in July 2016 at Clear Creek Dental in Anchorage, using a tool to remove quickly remove her tooth, handing it to the dental assistant and throwing his hands up in a self-congratulatory victory as he zooms out of the room. 

Lookhart, 34, texted the clip to at least eight friends, telling them it’s a ‘new standard of care’.

On Friday, he was convicted for felony medical assistance fraud, scheming to defraud, and misdemeanor counts of illegally practicing dentistry and reckless endangerment. 

Dentist Seth Lookhart was filmed removing a patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard at Clear Creek Dental, in Anchorage, Alaska in July 2016 

Pictured: Lookhart riding his hoverboard in Clear Creek Dental. Afterwards, he texted the video to several of his friends and the clip was used as evidence against him

The conviction followed a five-week bench trial before Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton, who said in a written finding that he found the state’s evidence ‘simply overwhelming’. 

He also said Lookhart’s own text conversations were persuasive. Friends had asked Lookhart how he got away with some of his practices.

‘Dr. Lookhart responded, in effect, that unless someone was standing right next to him at the time, no one would ever know,’ Wolverton wrote.

The judge also convicted Lookhart’s corporation, Lookhart Dental LLC, which did business as Clear Creek Dental, of 40 criminal counts.

Lookhart’s office manager, Shauna Cranford, previously pleaded guilty to medical assistance fraud as part of a plea agreement.

Lookhart in 2014 was a new dentist who took a job working for two established dentists. He was to be paid either $240,000 a year or 30% of the money he brought in, whichever was higher, assistant attorney general Eric Senta said.

Cranford persuaded Lookhart to offer intravenous sedation to Medicaid patients as an alternative to less costly anesthesia. The cost of IV sedation generally is not included in a patient’s $1,150 annual limit for non-emergency dental procedures. 

The practice became lucrative for Lookhart, prosecutors said, and his practice in 2016 accounted for 31% of all Medicaid payments for IV sedation out of 57 dentists in Alaska.

Lookhart also schemed to cut out his partners by billing Medicaid under a different provider identification and having payments sent directly to his home, prosecutors said.

Since Lookhart obtained an IV sedation license in 2015, prosecutors said, Medicaid paid him about $1.9 million for IV sedation services.

Patient, Veronica Wilhelm (right), was sedated at the time with no idea she was being filmed or Lookhart was on a hoverboard 

Wilhelm was sedated and had no idea her dentist performed the procedure on a hoverboard. 

Wilhelm told the courtroom that she had no idea she was being filmed during the incident and only found out after she was contacted by investigators.  

She described being ‘shocked, pretty livid — pissed off’ after the revelation.

Prosecutor Joan Wilson previously asked: ‘When did Dr. Lookhart get your approval to take out your tooth on a hoverboard?’

‘He never did. I obviously wouldn’t have approved that. That’s dangerous,’ Wilhelm replied.

‘If you were awake and not sedated when Dr. Lookhart came into the operatory on a hoverboard, what would you have said to him?’ Wilson continued. 

Lockhart’s (pictured) office manager previously pleaded guilty after persuading him to offer IV sedation to Medicaid patients as an alternative to less costly anesthesia 

‘I would’ve said ‘hell no!’,’ Wilhelm said. ‘No, that’s unprofessional. It’s crazy.’

She said: ‘I think you have to be pretty narcissistic, you must be pretty full of yourself to think you can pull someone’s tooth out on a hoverboard.’ 

During cross examination, defense attorney Paul Stockler apologized to Wilhelm for his client’s actions.’ 

‘I want you to know that as his lawyer, I apologize for what he did on that hoverboard,’ he said. 

‘It’s unacceptable and you can be assured that when I agreed to represent him, I got in his face and told him what I thought about him for doing this, which I think needed to be done,’ Stockler continued. 

‘He knows he did that on the hoverboard, the question is what effect, if any, that should have on his dental license and whether that’s a crime.’ 

Wilhelm’s incident would help prove Lookhart unnecessarily sedated Medicaid patients to maximize Medicaid payments.   

Lookhart fraudulently took $250,000 from his partners.   

Word of Lookhart’s Medicaid fraud reached investigators in 2016 when a former employee told the state that he was profiting by performing more IV sedation than needed. 

Former employees alleged that Lookhart specifically pushed for the sedation procedure on Medicaid patients, while those with private insurance were given local anesthesia. 

Medicaid paid him $1.9million for IV sedation services, a third of the total paid to 57 practices in the state, and he fraudulently took $250,000 from his partners

One person said that sedation was even used for deep cleanings. 

IV sedation is generally the most costly form of anesthesia, and compared to the $57 flat rate of nitrous oxide, Medicaid pays $170.76 for 15 minutes of the procedure.   

The state had said none of Lookhart’s billings have proper justification, with him only citing ‘comfort’ and ‘anxiety’ as reasons. 

Two patients took the stand to share instances of Lookhart’s damaging dental procedures. 

One man said he woke up from sedation to four missing teeth and dentures fitted so poorly that it made it difficult to talk, eat or breath. 

The other patient said he awoke from sedation on different occasions to find a crown had been placed on the wrong tooth. 

‘I want you to know that as his lawyer, I apologize for what he did on that hoverboard,’ his lawyer Paul Stockler said

Wilhem had previously said she didn’t have a problem with the outcome of her procedure: ‘I don’t have anything bad to say about taking out my tooth, I appreciate that, but I just think that what you did was outrageous, narcissistic you know, and crazy.’ 

After Lookhart was charged, the Alaska Board of Dental Examiners suspended his license to practice dentistry and sedation last June. 

Lookhart had planned to show the court that not all his Medicaid claims were false by going into the audit to determine who made edits on several claims. 

He claims the Medicaid office entered the wrong dates on some claims, which made it seem they backdated in comparison to medical records kept in Lookhart’s office.  

The felony medical assistance fraud, theft in the first degree, and scheme to defraud charges carry a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $100,000 and restitution. The top counts for the business carry a potential fine of up to $2.5 million.

Cranford is scheduled to be sentenced February 3. Lookhart is scheduled to be sentenced April 30. 

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