She prescribed ‘dangerous’ drugs and pulled teeth – but wasn’t even a dentist, DA says

Prosecutors say a Georgia woman performed teeth extractions, cleaned teeth and wrote prescriptions for potentially addictive drugs like Vicodin while posing as a dentist, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Krista Szewczyk, the 47-year-old operator of County Dental Providers in Marietta, Ga., was arrested August 23 and released the same day on a $27,700 bond, according to the paper.

She was charged with 40 counts of practicing dentistry without a license, three counts of unlawful prescription, one count of forgery in the first degree and four counts of insurance fraud, CBS 46 reported.

In a statement to the station via Facebook, Szewczyk said she denied the charges, called them a “personal vendetta” from the investigator and said she was “confident it will be handled in a timely manner,” the station reported.



Szewczyk’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Concerns had been raised years ago about Szewczyk allegedly practicing without a license, but a perceived conflict of interest convinced the district attorney’s office not to pursue charges, the AJC reported.

County Dental Providers is described on its website as a business that connects affiliated dentists with patients, not an actual dentistry practice in itself.

“The Company is solely a business service organization, which means we don’t do dentistry or get involved in the decisions made between dentist and patient. Our affiliated dentists spend most of their time with their patients delivering high-quality patient care, while our highly-trained business professionals manage the business aspects of their practices,” the website says.

Prosecutors say on many occasions Szewczyk performed dental procedures despite having no license or training, according to the AJC.

“It doesn’t matter if a doctor was in the room holding her hand, she can’t be doing it,” senior assistant district attorney Matthew Rollins said, according to the paper. “The law is pretty clear on this one.”

At least 18 people had dental work done by Szewczyk and more are “coming out of the woodwork,” District Attorney Dick Donovan said, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

Some of those procedures included extractions, cleanings, putting on braces, repairing fillings and chipped teeth, and setting crowns, according to the paper.

One man who said he was a patient of Szewczyk’s said he had some extractions done and later had to be rushed to the hospital after his neck swelled to the “size of a tennis ball,” WSB reported. Doctors treated him for an abscess, which involved putting a tube through his throat and mouth.

“I was scared because he could barely move, could barely talk. It’s really scary to even talk about it, remember it,” his wife said, according to the station.

Patients continued to enter the business on Wednesday, WSB reported.

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 1:05 PM with the headline "She prescribed ‘dangerous’ drugs and pulled teeth – but wasn’t even a dentist, DA says."