An unlicensed St. Cloud dental clinic owner who altered billing codes and directed staff to perform unnecessary procedures was denied a license last month, according to an order by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry.
In 2009, the board received a complaint about Ayman Risha, who holds a foreign-issued Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree.
In addition to finding Risha unlicensed as a clinic owner and a practitioner, a board investigation determined that he had "engaged in fraud or deception ... by providing diagnoses and preparing treatment plans that were not warranted," the order stated. Risha directed staff to follow the plans, falsify periodontal probing numbers and take unnecessary X-rays, as well as scratching expiration dates off products and changing billing codes to justify procedures, the order said.
The investigation also determined that Risha's clinic lacked adequate infection control procedures, including a disposal program and a plan to handle exposure to infection.
In March 2010 the board ordered Risha to cease his unlicensed activities. Two months later, he applied for a license by examination.
After a board committee recommended in 2010 that he be denied a license, Risha contested the decision but lost by default when he missed a 2011 hearing, the order stated.
The board ordered Risha to pay $8,794 in costs, including expenses for an administrative law judge.
JANE FRIEDMANN
