Two U.S. women face felony charges for allegedly impersonating dentists and performing unlicensed dental work on unwitting patients, including injecting anaesthesia and extracting teeth.
According to an indictment filed in the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Melissa M. Pavey, 45, and Jolene E. Houchens, 38, used drills, lasers and surgical tools on at least five people between July 2016 and December 2017.
The women operated out of an office in Glendale, where they charged victims thousands of dollars for illegal procedures, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
In one instance, Pavey and Houchens allegedly charged a man $6,000 for a tooth extraction. In another, a Glendale woman had multiple teeth extracted by the pair in January 2017, authorities said.
"During the whole procedure, I felt something was off ― the time it took, the numbing ... the pain I felt, dropping the tool on the ground and putting it back in my mouth," she told CBS 5 News in Phoenix.
The Glendale woman claims the phoney dentists told her she did not need antibiotics and instead gave her loose pills in a bag, along with a prescription for Percocet. The prescription, the indictment alleges, was written on a prescription pad taken from a licensed dental office.
Extreme pain prompted the woman to visit an emergency room, where she says doctors said her mouth was infected.
The Glendale woman is just one of their alleged victims. The indictment says Pavey and Houchens "recklessly caused ... physical injury" to four other people they performed dangerous surgical procedures on. The investigative documents further allege that neither Pavey nor Houchens has ever been licensed to practice dentistry.
Special agents with the Arizona Attorney General's Office investigated the pair after the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners reported receiving a complaint.
Both women face multiple felony charges, including fraud, aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument and theft. They are scheduled to appear in court for their arraignments early next month. Court documents do not list an attorney for either woman.
Read the indictment below: