Fla. Police End Dirty 'Grills' Dentistry

Call it the bling sting. Detectives had been watching the Blue Diamond Jewelry shop for a month after getting reports that its workers were fitting customers with gold teeth caps using filthy equipment.

Some clients had no problems with their shiny new "grills." Others were not so fortunate and suffered severe infections.

The amateur, unlicensed dentists cast the grills using filthy tools stored in a cluttered back room amid trash and debris and even adjusted customers' teeth plates with dirty pliers before reinserting them, unwashed, into clients' mouths, authorities said.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectives put an end to the dirty dentistry and shut down the business Wednesday in an undercover sting.

Sarah V. Encarnacion, 39, was arrested just as she was about to place caps inside the mouth of an undercover sheriff's investigator.

Encarnacion is charged with unlawful practice of dentistry, proprietorship of non-dentist, and working in an unlawful dental laboratory.

"It's just disgusting," said Detective Lori Gunn, who learned of the infected customers about a month ago from the Florida Department of Health. "It's completely unsanitary."

No telephone number was listed under Encarnacion's name.