Recent cases show dentists disciplined after complaints.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Complaints about dentists made to the Oregon Board of Dentistry rarely result in a dentist's license being revoked or suspended. Of 357 disciplinary actions between 1997 and 2004, only 26 resulted in either a voluntary resignation or revocation of a dentist's license.

Some recent cases of discipline against dentists by the Board of Dentistry include:

In 2005, the board fined Portland dentist John Lee $1,000 for 27 allegations of unacceptable patient care and failure to document treatment rendered on five of his patients. The board found that Lee placed fillings and prepared teeth for crowns that weren't justified.

Lee told The Register-Guard that the penalty was too harsh and said he was disciplined only for lack of documentation after a disgruntled employee turned him in to the board because she quit and couldn't get unemployment benefits.

"None of my patients complained," he said.

In 2002, the board ordered Forest Grove dentist Ulrich Schockelt to pay a patient $680 after failing to document justification for placing crowns on two of the man's teeth, among other things. Schockelt also chalked the case up to "documentation issues," adding, "It's really not something that reflects patient care."

In 2003, the board ordered Portland dentist Paul Kami to pay one of his former patients $15,000, after finding that Kami prepared crowns without documenting the justification and extracted teeth without documenting justification for it - or noting in his chart that the teeth had been extracted. Kami did not return phone calls from The Register-Guard.

In 2004, the board fined Portland dentist James Anderson $5,000 for failing to document a justification for placing a crown on a patient and for fabricating his treatment notes in an attempt to deceive the board. Anderson told the newspaper the board made a "mountain out of a molehill," and that the fine did nothing to solve his patient's problem - the faulty crown. "It really didn't resolve her issue at all."

In 2004, the board ordered Eugene dentist Kenneth Shou to take classes in diagnosis, treatment and record-keeping after finding that Shou placed fillings on 12 teeth and prepared crowns on two others without any documented justification.

Shou told The Register-Guard his patient didn't complain, and that the case evolved from a disgruntled employer angry with him for leaving his practice at Valley River Center.

- Winston Ross