Crime This Bad Is Worse Than A Toothache

By Shannon in News on Oct 19, 2007 9:11PM

One of Chicagoist’s few lingering memories of grade school was dental hygiene films. Those things scared the bejeezus out of us. Rotten teeth loomed large in darkened rooms, while Vincent Price’s voice double warned us of the horrors of plaque. Keep that shit up long enough, we were taught, and you get zero teeth. Oddly enough, that’s what a local dental practice’s patrons ended up with, as well as mountains of debt.

Rosewood Dental, a firm with offices in downtown, Naperville, Highland Park and Oak Park, purportedly bilked customers out of thousands of dollars per visit, while simultaneously relieving them of their chompers. Practitioners pulled all of Betty Hodge’s teeth and gave her an ill-fitting set of dentures. Tim Harrison also fell victim to the company, losing his back teeth and getting a bill for $12,000. James Winters owes $20,000 for over 40 appointments’ worth of work, and his mouth still isn’t done.

The man accused of these indignities is one Gary Anusavice. His license has been suspended in Illinois and revoked in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with offenses including performing unwanted operations and not delivering service after payment. Rosewood was quickly shut down amidst a Secret Service investigation, focusing on bank fraud. As horrible as the situation is, we must admit we’re miffed by a person letting a dentist do so many wrong things in one’s mouth. The unspoken power they wield? Scary stuff.

Image via raanch.com. We miss that tooth!