Prices are skyrocketing. It now costs 1 goat and 2 chickens. Damn inflation.

(Dan, love your Angle on this;)

"Detectives believe there may be more victims who have yet to come forward"

They must have Sherlock Homes on staff to figure out that one!!!!!!!!

Ha the good old days when there was no dentist and no pain medication...It was yanked and yell like hell..Same with Drs... Cut off the arm or leg with out being put under..Have to say Men were men back then..Today there just wimps...lol

my buddy does lasik in his garage.39.95$

Must be nice to have dental insurance. Heck, must be nice to have any health insurance at all! I work, but can't buy it because of pre-existing genetic condition that is easily managed for approximately $24/month. I guess $24 a month is too much money for the insurance companies to pay on a claim!

How in the world do you end up in such a place anyway? Is it word of mouth in little Havana maybe? If so, I dont blame the clandestine dentist, I blame the dumbass parents...

There's no way around good health care...if there was, Walmart $10.99 clinics would be littering the entire planet right now...

Ignorance breeds more ignorance....

These people knew this was an illegal business to start with, serves them right.

You would be surprised at how common this is in So. Fla. We came here in '62 from Cuba. Not having the means for anything when we needed dental work my parents would have a dentist friend who also came over recently and she would have a big duffle bag, something about the size you see soldiers using, full of equipment. She would set up "shop" on our kitchen table and start with one untill all were taken care of. I kid u not , what I saw in those days left me scarred for life LOL. But it was all my parents could afford.

Here in Central Kansas, during the early 60's my family took me to a Dentist. He charged $1 to drill a tooth, $1 to pull a tooth and for $1 extra he would use a pain killer. We could never afford the pain killer. Had all my teeth drilled and/or pulled without pain medication/shots. His assistant would help hold down the patient while the Dentist placed a knee in your chest so he could do his work. I can still smell the odors from his Dental Office when I think of it. Grown people would leave his chair in tears and fear every time. Thank goodness times have changed, at least here in Central Kansas.

deweydan

Here in Central Kansas, during the early 60's my family took me to a Dentist. He charged $1 to drill a tooth, $1 to pull a tooth and for $1 extra he would use a pain killer. We could never afford the pain killer

So, like the Dalai Lama, you learned to transcend dental medication.

denver bill 2

"transcend dental medication"

Oh, that was good. I liked it.

This was child abuse and torture. The criminals should be put away for life, and should have their assets seized. The mother should be charged as well, since she saw her child being assaulted, and did not call 911. Moreover, there are programs, such as Medicaid, which cover poor folks. Many dentists take Medicaid. That stupid woman who was the child's mom put her own child in danger.

Sick..

What reputable MOTHER takes her child for dentistry at a back room in a house?

How come all this weird news come from Florida, have recurring hurricanes caused genetic damage?

It is legal to do this in the Dominican Republic, OK! This IS NOT the Dominican Republic! Maybe immigrants should check what is and isn't legal to do here in America before setting up shop!!

I knew a guy that got his false teeth made and fitted by a unlicensed guy who was a dentist in his country but the USA doesn't honor his degree. Apparently it's legal to make false teeth and fit them with out a licence ? The funny thing is his first name was Humberto also but a different last name and he was from Portugal. And he worked out of a converted garage in the north east. I will say that he did a great job for my friend and only charged $400.00. My friend was very happy with his teeth and they looked better than many false teeth I've seen.

Dewey Dan, I used to always wonder why people feared and hated the dentist. Now I know why. Holy crap. I'm going to go brush and floss now....just in case...

Daniel Calc-2569926

Damn hard to find a good dentist these days that accept chickens as payment. What was this guys name? I wonder if he's in the Yellow Pages.....

Look under: "Dentists, Undocumented"

....."Pulling the Teeth Americans Won't"

The following is part of a comment I posted on the 'vine back on July 26th of this year in response to the story about the idiot who was injecting people with Fix-A-Flat to enhance their rear ends.

For Floriduh, this is just the tip of the iceberg....."dentists" who "practice" out of storage units with people who actually go there and pay for the privilige.

So really this is nothing new or out of the ordinary for Floriduh. There is something very, very, VERY wrong with this state. I say that because although I am living here temporarily (thankfully), I am definitely not FROM here! The state motto should be......Floriduh, it's just DIFFERENT here! Very Different! This is a very scary state for many reasons.

2 out of 3 times you hear about crap like this it's Florida. Florida is a messed up place.

...and I'm an aspiring OBGYN :-)

never mind

YOu know what? Us Repubs and conservatives WANT regulations!! We just don't want OVER regulation which is what has been slowly happening. Of course I want things to be regulated, it keeps us safer and punishes those who don't comply with the law!

The thing is (and I suspect this MAY have been the case), some people who emigrate to the U.S. may have been doctors and dentists back home in their own countries, but the U.S. won't accept their certifications/diplomas and expects them to go to med school and start all over. These people may have claimed they performed dental work back in their home country and the parents of this young girl may have believed that, without doing further research. Obviously, it wasn't true, but my point is, that is what the parents may have believed when the "dentist" offered his services -- that he was certified to do so -- and the dentist took advantage of their naivete and lack of questioning. You get what you pay for, unfortunately, and sometimes, what may seem cheap at the time, turns out to be very, very expensive -- even more than it would have been had they taken her to a REAL dentist.

If the Democrats have their way, you won't find anymore good Doctors or Dentists because they will either retire or choose another profession.

Surely the dumbest post I'll read all day. Unless he has others I've yet to encounter...

2 out of 3 times you hear about crap like this it's Florida. Florida is a messed up place.

This is the 1 time:

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-mother-daughter-accused-in-illegal-dentistry-case-turn-themselves-in/article/3708735

She said she didn't think anything of the place because such dental offices are normal in her native Dominican Republic.

Well dumb@ss, you're not IN the Dominican Republic now are you?

John,Doh

BRAVO....It's amazing the amount of absurdity that exists in people's minds with no regard for truth or even reality.

if the Democrats have their way

How many really know what the Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program (Romneycare) which is the model for Obamacare, that Mitt Romney put into law in Massachusetts really is? Yet Massachusetts is one of the top places in America to received quality healthcare and Doctors flock to Massachusetts. Really...really dumb statement. But the public never disappoints....I'm sure there will be more.

I'm sure these guys will run into a few unlicensed proctologists in jail.

OPEN WIDE!!!

Why?-3122622

If the Republicans get their way the dentist would have never been arrested. That's what they want no regulations, right? Free enterprise at it's best. They way it used to be, you could go to the barber get a hair cut and a tooth pulled at the same time. Yep lets turn back the clocks 100 years. Oh maybe I'll become a dentist, too...

#1.18 - Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:39 AM EDT

It isn't that Republicans want NO regulation, Mr. Hyperbole, it's that they want to get rid of OVER-regulation--the kind that runs contrary to common sense and practicality. I don't think you're going to find anyone that thinks ALL regulation is bad. It is a question of how much is appropriate and effective without becoming onerous.

Look at the crime statistics in Florida and how much Cuban immigrants legal and illegal account for a significant portion of Floridas crime rate. People don;t remember apparently, Cuba prior to Castro was a criminal vacation land, if there was a corrupt US company, they had people in Cuba doing business, the mob virtually owned the island with conservative US politicians winks and nods which is really why they screamed when Castro took over, he kicked all the criminals out and they came to the US

This story should put to rest the myth Reputeabaggers keep repeating about immigrants coming to the US to take advantage of its welfare system when in fact they go through hell to make a better life for themselves.

It's not enough these immigrants have to escape an f'd up situation back home they also have to put up with American fascists who'll make up lies to deport these brave immigrants.

The US is a country made of immigrants and it always will be you freaking like it, you freaking don't.

wiseone-358999

where do you live that a lot of dentists take medicade? Not many dentists do and when there is a dentist that does take medicade there is like a 1-2 year wait list to see the dentist. I have a close personal friend who has medicade and where she used to live there was only one dentist in the area who would take medicade but there was a very long wait list. The only option she had was to go to the dental school. She has had to go there twice for teeth pain and still needs to go back for more work. Basically she just had some teeth pulled. There is still a lot of work that she needs done.

"wiseone-358999"

This post could go in the dictionary next to the word ignorant. This has nothing to do with child abuse, if you knew any child that had been abused I'm sure your ridiculous statement would change. This is someone trying to get COSMETIC DENTISTRY ON THE CHEAP. There were hundreds of people that were taken care of until this idiot came along, probably wasn't happy with the CHEAP COSMETIC DENTISTRY and now cries fowl. I agree it's not the best set up but at least poor people were getting care. In her "native country" if she complained, they would have laughed and told her to live with chip in her tooth. I agree, if anyone should be arrested it should be the "mother". Unbelievable! IMO

"This was child abuse and torture. The criminals should be put away for life, and should have their assets seized. The mother should be charged as well, since she saw her child being assaulted, and did not call 911. Moreover, there are programs, such as Medicaid, which cover poor folks. Many dentists take Medicaid. That stupid woman who was the child's mom put her own child in danger."

Lot more to Miami than south beach. Lady recently arrested for injecting Fix A Flat and household silicon into womens buttocks as a butt lift. If I knocked you out and you woke up in Little Havana, you would swear you were in another Country. Signs in Spanish, and alot can't or won't speak English.

julianDokktorDentista, ... Caveat Emptor, & NO you do NOT often get what you paid for, due to shady, corrupt people in this WWW.

Well, you sure do not "get" unless you DO pay for!

This seems similiar to what will happen if we ban abortions. People will go to clandestine back room clinics and have their uterus filed down.

It doesn't take much searching on the 'net to find such stories happening now. In a recent case a woman in ID was prosecuted as the closest clinic was in UT. She took RU486 instead, but too late for that to be good.

Part of the problem here is the ignorance of the girl's mother - and others like her - who go to these back-room quacks. And part of the problem is Florida authorities not shutting these guys down when cases like this one are reported. Maybe some kind-hearted dentist who specializes in cosmetic and restoration dentistry will step up and help this young girl. Many great things can be done now with caps, crowns, and implants.

Carolart: The entire PROBLEM is our beautiful state is being taken over by lowlifes from other countries, mostly illegal, or just lowlife transplants from other states, who want everything for free and have no respect for themselves or anything else...

uknownance

Carolart: The entire PROBLEM is our beautiful state is being taken over by lowlifes from other countries

Two thumbs up for that comment

...parts of our state, for example, South Florida, are now third-world cesspools

if you happen to have the unfortunate experience to get stranded in Maimi International Airport late at night you will have to wait hours for them to locate someone who can speak and understand English

I tink it is sprelled "Miami"

...maybe I need to start using spell cheker

I hear that Rick Scott is going to open a dental practice, since he didn't rip off enough taxpayers before he became governor.

You don't think the same can be said about Americans in other countries? We aren't perfect. People do what they have to. Are we to stop immigration only from Latin countries? Very backwards people (according to your standards) come from Asia and Europe also. How about we ONLY let Americans migrate to America? Good idea??

So it's okay to allow immigration if the people are smart? Here's one for you - many terrorists are some of the most highly educated people you'll come across. Frankly, I've encountered more back woods, ignorant "Americans" than I have foreign nationals. Just because you don't understand someone's culture dosesn't make them uneducated or backwards.

You are one of the reasons other parts of the world see us as arrogant. You buddy are one big @!$%#.

Disgustedtaxpayer.........I doubt you even pay any

OK. I agree. Stop all immigration until we come up with a sane, national policy.

that's kind of what the Seminole used to say and look at all the white people there, now. might want to get used to it.

That mother should be arrested for child abuse - SHE took her daughter to this idiot. if they BOTH go to jail, they can get their teeth fixed for FREE - ON OUR DIME! If this woman had dental insurance, then she has a decent job - a lot better than other people - so she's simply cheap. As for the guy who got dentures out of a garage, this the same guy who did George Washington's teeth?!?!?!

Well at least people from Asia and Europe will learn the language. Can you imagine if all our ancestors came to America and refused to learn the English language? Why is it that latin americans can immigrate here and won't learn the language like everyone else. I think there should be two major criteria for immigration. First you have to learn the english language and second you must be able to support yourself for at least five years. In other words NO welfare and NO Social Security.

When are Americans going to realize that Mexico is colonizing the United States and LATINO is just a word invented to dump all the countries of Latin America behind Mexico's agenda.

NC & annabell: I agree

Mother and grandmother should find someone to fill that cavity between their ears.

Paul,

What in the heck are you talking about? My health insurance did not cover cosmetic plastic surgery. I did not have to go to a doctor to find out. I READ THE FREAKING POLICY!

Paul, ... yur an idiottttt, plain, pure and SIMPLE minded one, at that too. WOW!

She could have called her insurance and asked if it was covered. She didn't have to go to a dentist in person to ask.

Actually, if the tooth is chipped, the repair is NOT considered cosmetic, and generally is covered by insurance. Plans vary, though. Some don't cover any fillings at all, for any reason.

@truthhurts402

Your dentist IS overcharging you, in a sense. Many dentists will accept what the insurance covers, only charging the patient the contracted portion and co-pay. Your dentist will tell you that they are a "participating provider" of your insurance plan, but that they don't accept the insurance company's fee schedule. They charge YOU the difference.

There should be some EXCELLENT dentists in your area that "accept the fee schedule" of your insurance. Shop around, and ask around.

In this child's case, I'm sure they had little in the way of insurance and thought this back-door dentist could give them a deal. Probably referred by many to the hack.

If you don't like your dentists' billing practices, GET ANOTHER DENTIST. You are not being chained in the chair to get treatment by him. There are plenty of good qualified dentists' out there.

In this girls case; she probably had never seen a dentist, and parents allowed her teeth to decay without even thinking that this was such a severe problem. Many dentists' will do severe cases for reduced fees.

This girl could have died from LACK of dental care. The dentist should be brought up on assault charges AND the parents should be investigated by children services (for not only allowing the kids teeth to get that bad and listening to her screaming in the office and not doing something about it).

Sammit, they had dental insurance, but she had a chip in a front tooth that insurance would not cover.

I'm guessing that your dentist is either not a participating provider in your PPO or you aren't in a PPO and have regular indemnity insurance. A dentist can accept PPO insurance without being a participating provider and charge according to their own fee schedule. Also remember that most procedures (those that aren't considered preventative) are rarely covered at 100%.

If your dentist has an agreement with your insurance company, then you should be paying only what the terms of your insurance policy agreement stipulate--nothing more. Depending on what procedures you have done, it could be just a co-pay, or it could be the co-pay plus a percentage, or even nothing at all. Check with your insurance company about your dentist and his billing practices. You might be owed a refund from the dentist.

If I had a child with a bad tooth and it was bothering them, I would do what ever to help them, even if that ment getting a title loan.

FlaNative55

you got me on a typo great for you. look omg im not using caps or punctuation and what does omg mean anyway is that a misspell for heavens sake go grade your own papers you a$$ and you must be a dentist or know one the way you try to defend them. read the other comments he does charge too much they gave me some excellent advice and i will shop around for another dentist. i've been to florida and it sucks too.

Dentists attend dental school, not medical school. There are more medical schools than dental school, and the admission process to get into dental school is actually very competitive. We have to have similar grades and take the same undergrad classes as pre-med students, and do well on the Dental Aptitude Test, which is analogous to the MCAT. In WV, where I went to undergrad and dental school, there are 3 medical schools, and one dental school, at WVU. The med school class at WVU admitted 80 students per year. The dental class - 40. Pretty fierce competition for half as many slots.

truthhurts402, you may want to change your s/n to truthhurts 420 cuz u sound really really dumb right now.... Sandy, I really hope you don't expect truthhurts to understand what you wrote.... people that care about their teeth know that a good dentist is worth every penny!!! I thank God daily that my cousin's a dentist & I only pay lab fees.

6dogs

If I had a child with a bad tooth and it was bothering them, I would do what ever to help them, even if that ment getting a title loan.

Do you think if they didn't have enough money to fix a chipped tooth via regular means that they'd have a car? With the interest charged on Title Loans, and the non-emergency nature of the tooth problem, they'd be better off waiting and saving for the procedure.

Either way, these people are complete idiots for going to the unlicensed guy. It's a shame they have to do that in the first place...

True, Toni, but facts won't stop some from any possible opportunity to launch into today's most fashionable sport: racist diatribes and rants. It's predominately practiced among those who give new meaning to the term ignorant, ugly American.

Many countries only allow immigrants who either have needed skills or are financially stable. They do not allow indigents or those without proven means of support.

DoubtingToni: Stop playing the LA RAZA game. The United States was once the country that was the envy of the world, but since Mexico has been colonizing the US, people around the world see the US as just another Latin American craphole with cowardly leaders that will nuke a country only if its a thousand miles away and no direct threat to any American the way Mexico is.

Not just Mexico. We have illegals from Central and South America by way of Mexico.I am not against legal immigration, but uncontroled immgration will bring a Country down.

Travis........then go live somewhere else! #1) Cuban, not Mexican #2) We have more dumb-ass americans doing dumb-ass @!$%# all in the name of scamming their fellow countrymen for everything they can get them for. #3) Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of folks you can trust to give you the service and/or product that you pay for. Doesn't matter what country their from! #4) You buy Walmart, you get Walmart!

@ Tired of the haters 1

Generally 1---In AMERICA (like i said, generally) its a sterile environment wherever you go for medical/dental work. 2-----Cuban, Mexican, doesnt really matter now does it? lol Because at the end of the day, you cant change what they're used to seeing as a child, away from who they are today 3---there are a lot of agencies that will help with dental care that are licensed. If you dont do the research, you get what you pay for pretty much. There may be a few Americans that scam people here and there, but really---common sense ppl!!!! you know what you're getting into if the price is just too unreal!

Its NOT Mexicans running these offices , its almost always Cubans, since they all believe in the free market, even if they want to endanger someones life. Why do you think Castro came to power? There was NO leadership in Cuba, and someone had to tell Cubans how to live, go to school, and get a job.

@ tired of the haters... it was a total joke. Sorry i confused cuban with mexican. I live in a mexican neighborhood.... where cuban, hatian, latino, anyone who speaks spanish is 'mexican.' Not because I'm an ass, but because that's just how it is.

yeah, who was this "friend" that recommended the "dentist" to the mother? Pretty sure if this happened to me I would be no longer friends with that person. And once your daughter starts screaming, how could you not stop the procedure?

This guy deserves to be in jail for a long, long time.

Sorry you had to experience that as a child. Your parents should have stood up for you better.

I think the point is that in her culture there are reputable dentists who have their practice at home-so there weren't any alarm bells going off as they entered the home. Though granted the fact that her daughter was in such pain, and he refused to stop once he started should have been a huge red flag that she should intervene and leave with her daughter/call the police right then and there.

@TheRealTruth2U

If she wants that type of situation (because shes used to it, and its common) they need to take that back to her homeland.

You must be so proud of your wit, calling very poor and desperate people "dummies." You really made a difference in the world today, Tom.

redmoth

In Chicago, these people are treated like royalty. I'm sick and tired of people thinking of them as martyrs. They are stealing the resources that were meant to feed poor Americans and over 42% of those poor are white.

awesome comment Tom!! you may need to avoid the patients who practice Santaria though. Also, no need to explain the "dummies" comment to redmoth, it will def. be a waste of time!!!

Nothing personal but hearing wacko news bits coming from south Florida shouldn't be surprising to anyone.

opinionatedhighhorse, I agree with you.