The Louisiana Board of Dentistry is asking the attorney general and local law enforcement to investigate a woman they claim is practicing dentistry without a license, according to local NBC affiliate WDSU.
Dental board member Claudia Cavallino, DDS, said the group has seen an uptick in complaints from patients about a woman named Brittany Bridges, who runs New Orleans-based Bossy Smiles. Patients are allegedly filing complaints that Ms. Bridges does not have the proper training to practice dentistry.
This is not the first time Ms. Bridges has been accused of practicing without a license. In 2017, she was arrested for allegedly practicing dentistry illegally. However, the case was dropped after prosecutors said they didn't have evidence to prove she illegally practiced dentistry beyond a reasonable doubt.
The dental board, however, has run into a snag. Since Ms. Bridges doesn’t have a license, the dental board can't step in.
"Unfortunately, the state board can't do anything about this because she doesn't have a license — so we are the regulatory agency that can sanction a dentist or a hygienist, but when it's an unlicensed person performing dentistry we have no jurisdiction — all we can do is turn that over to law enforcement," said Dr. Cavallino to WDSU.