Cops Arrest Woman for Alleged Garage Dentistry

July 24, 2009— -- To Rosa Toledo's neighbors in her gated Naples, Fla., community, she seemed like your average householder. She kept up her hedge, she had a family and she made home improvements.

But what some neighbors didn't know was that behind the division in Toledo's garage, hundreds of people were allegedly getting drilled, scraped, poked and fitted for crowns.

Officers booked Toledo, 56, Tuesday on charges of practicing dentistry or dental hygiene without a license. Police say they found a reclining black chair, a cabinet full of dental castings, molds, crowns, bridges and a patient ledger book with names, procedures and allergies in her garage.

"I live right beside them, and I didn't see any evidence of it going on," said Theron Trimball, Toledo's neighbor.

"I was aware that they converted their garage, I assumed it was another bedroom," he said. "The front part of the garage was only 5 feet deep and had only lawn equipment and exercise equipment ... you couldn't see what was behind it."

It's unclear whether Toledo, who works as a dental assistant in a local office, had any kind of formal training.

"It's part of an open investigation," said Kristi Lester of the Collier County Sheriff's Office. "She had said to us that she had practiced in Mexico."

The idea of illegal dentistry in your own backyard may be new to Toledo's neighbors, but those within the American Dental Association say it's a chronic problem. Adding to that mess, some community health care groups say getting any kind of unlicensed health care to save money is a growing trend.

"Basically, it is people [patients] who lack resources," said Dr. Laura Neumann, senior vice president for education and professional affairs at the American Dental Association.

"One of the problems we find is they're charging less money because they're cutting corners on infection control, they're cutting costs on equipment ... basically they're passing along those cost savings to their patients," she said.

Neumann said unlicensed dentistry practiced by immigrants with dental degrees from other countries is especially common.

"We've seen that with the Polish-speaking community, sometimes in Asian communities, in Hispanic communities," Neumann said. "In some cases, I think these folks don't even try to go through the license procedure."