A dental company with more than a hundred clinics across 17 states has agreed to pay almost $24 million to settle five lawsuits which allege that its dentists performed unnecessary root canals on needy children and billed Medicaid for it, prosecutors say.
Benevis LLC and its 130 affiliated Kool Smiles clinics submitted false claims for medically unnecessary dental procedures, including baby root canals, tooth extractions, and stainless steel crowns, according to lawsuits prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department. The company also billed Medicaid for procedures its dentists did not perform.
