A 70-year-old Long Island woman turned her kitchen into an illegal dental clinic and pulled out five teeth from trusted patients who paid her nearly $2,000, prosecutors said.
Gladys Serrano, 70, was criminally charged this week with running a dental clinic out of a one-bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
“Operating dental practices without proper licensing poses a very serious risk to public health and safety,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement. “This defendant's alleged home surgery jeopardized the health of at least one person in need of dental treatment.”
Prosecutors said the woman contacted Serrano (who does not appear to have a dental license) through a referral on July 26 and made an appointment to have a tooth extracted.
The victim showed up at Serrano's makeshift office, where curtains had been hung and the kitchen partitioned off. The fake dentist told him that five of his teeth would actually need to be extracted because they were rotten, prosecutors said.
Officials said Serrano pulled out the tooth, gave the victim a piece of paper towel to soak up the large amount of blood, and instructed him to rinse it off with salt water.
Serrano also told the woman she would need a dental bridge and visited his office several times between Aug. 16 and Dec. 4 requesting a dental bridge, prosecutors said.
But prosecutors said the victim never received a bridge that fit her mouth, even though Serrano made additional impressions of her mouth and recorded impressions.
The patient paid Serrano a total of $1,950 during the five-month visit, according to the DA's office.
Investigators searched Serrano's apartment and found a curtain in the kitchen and a patient chair near the sink, prosecutors said.
Drawers were filled with obviously used dental instruments, as well as impression molds, extraction instruments, and tartar scrapers. Prosecutors said the large container was filled with empty pill bottles and used dental needles.
Investigators also recovered boxes labeled with disposable dental needles, as well as capsules of the antibiotic amoxicillin, the anti-inflammatory drug Rilaflex, and the local anesthetic lidocaine, officials said.
Prosecutors said a search of New York state records did not reveal anyone named Gladys Serrano with a dental license.
At her arraignment Tuesday, Serrano pleaded not guilty to one count of professional unauthorized conduct, a class E felony.
Judge Charles G. McQuair released her to pretrial services with electronic monitoring, ordered her to surrender her passport and restricted her out-of-state travel.
She was charged Tuesday in connection with illegal dental practices after she allegedly jumped out of the kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
Only one victim has been identified so far, but Nassau authorities believe more may have come to Serrano for treatment.
Anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Serrano should call the Nassau County District Attorney's Office Immigration Affairs Bureau at 516-571-7756.
If convicted, Serrano could face up to four years in prison, prosecutors said.
She is scheduled to return to court on January 8, 2025.
