Small Smiles Dental Centers facts for kids
Small Smiles Dental Centers is a company that helps run dental offices across the United States. These offices aim to provide dental care for families who might not have a lot of money. Small Smiles used to be called Church Street Health Management and before that, FORBA.
The company has about 70 dental centers in 22 states and Washington, D.C. Its main office is in Nashville, Tennessee. You might know their clinics by different names, such as Children's Dental Clinic, Indian Springs Dental Clinic, Oklahoma Smiles, Small Smiles Dentistry, Texas Smiles, and Wild Smiles.
How Small Smiles Started
The story of Small Smiles began with a dental clinic in Pueblo, Colorado, which opened way back in 1928. The DeRose family and Dr. William Mueller were the original owners of this company.
In 2003, Michael DeRose, one of the family members, bought a very expensive house in Pueblo. During the time the DeRose family owned the clinics, there were some concerns about how children were treated. Sometimes, children were held still using special wraps called "papoose boards" so dentists could work quickly. Because of this, the State of Colorado made a rule to limit how often these boards could be used.
There were also concerns that the clinics did a lot of dental work, like putting many crowns on children's teeth. So, the Colorado government set a limit on how many crowns could be placed each day. In 2006, the DeRose family sold the company to new owners.
News Reports and Lawsuits
In 2007, a news reporter named Roberta Baskin showed a film from inside a Small Smiles clinic. The film showed children crying while dentists worked on them, sometimes while they were held in papoose boards. A main dentist in the report said that they often did many baby root canals on one child at a time. He also mentioned that the clinic had goals for how much dental work they needed to do to make money.
After this news report was shown on television, people started filing lawsuits against Small Smiles. A woman from Kentucky named Debbie Hagan started a blog to share her concerns about the company. Journalists and people from the New York State government talked to Hagan to learn more about what was happening.
On November 14, 2008, Small Smiles sued Hagan, saying she shared their private documents without permission. However, on April 16, 2009, the company decided to stop the lawsuit.
The United States government also filed a lawsuit against Small Smiles. This lawsuit was about how the company used government money meant for dental care for children from low-income families. To settle the lawsuit, Small Smiles agreed to pay $24 million to the U.S. government. In February 2012, Small Smiles asked for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, which is a legal way for companies to reorganize their finances when they are having money troubles.
Other pages
See also
In Spanish: Small Smiles Dental Centers para niños
