Newport celebrity dentist accused of negligence in dental board complaint
A Newport Beach celebrity dentist could have her license revoked or suspended based on allegations that she performed shoddy procedures that left one patient in “intolerable pain” for months.
Sherri Worth appeared on the former Fox reality TV show “The Swan” and features testimonials on her dental practice website from stars such as rock drummer Tommy Lee and actress Anna Kendrick.
But according to a complaint by the Dental Board of California filed Feb. 3 with the state attorney general’s office, Worth botched $46,000 worth of work on a patient who went to her in 2009 with hopes of fixing a “gummy smile.”
As part of the treatment, Worth put crowns or porcelain veneers on 22 of the woman’s teeth, according to the complaint. Many of the fixtures were ill-fitted, and in some cases, Worth removed solid dental work to attach them, the complaint says.
Worth defended herself in a written statement.
“These allegations are more than 5 years old and they originated as a result of professional jealousy by a competitor,” she said in part. “Highly qualified independent experts have found no negligence on my part. ... I am confident that when the whole story comes out and the final decision is rendered, I will be vindicated.”
According to the complaint, Worth improperly shaved off portions of the patient’s gums with a laser, enabling food and bacteria to lodge around her teeth.
“[Worth] observed the horrible gingivitis in the areas she treated with laser surgery, and the perfectly healthy gum tissue in the rest of the mouth, and inexplicably continued to insist the patient’s oral hygiene was the problem,” the complaint states.
The dental board accuses Worth of incompetence and negligence and of altering or hiding records during a civil lawsuit brought by the patient.
According to the board, Worth claimed the records were lost in a flood or computer crash, and when she did provide the documents, “they were written in such a biased manner as to be untrustworthy.”
Attorneys for the two sides in the civil suit scheduled an expert to examine the records, but two days before the scheduled meeting, Worth said she had spilled soda on the documents, which “made the records unreviewable by the document examiners,” the complaint states.
The patient eventually won a $641,441 judgment against Worth in 2012. A payout in that amount from Worth’s insurance provider brought the matter to the attention of the dental board, according to its complaint.
The complaint may go to a hearing before an administrative law judge, who would make a recommendation regarding Worth’s license. The dental board would have final say on any action.