In a Feb. 5 letter to the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners, Neil Woods, DDS, voluntarily surrendered his license, according to the Capital Gazette.
Dr. Woods cited medical reasons and disciplinary charges as the reason for surrendering his license. He closed his private practice in Severna Park, Md., in late December 2019. The closure of his practice followed a dental board investigation that led to disciplinary charges.
"Solely for the purpose of this licensing action, I have decided to permanently surrender my license due to health reasons and to avoid the time, effort and cost to defend against these disciplinary charges," Dr. Woods wrote, according to the Capital Gazette. "Nevertheless, I understand that the Board believes that if it were to proceed with an evidentiary hearing in this matter, the State would be able to prove by the applicable standard that I violated the foregoing provisions of this act."
The Maryland dental board charged Dr. Woods with fraudulently obtaining a license, practicing dentistry in a professionally incompetent manner, behaving dishonorably or unprofessionally and violating a professional code of ethics.
The charges were based on a review of 20 of Dr. Woods' patients. Investigators alleged Dr. Woods failed to conduct basic clinical charting, that radiographs were not of "diagnostic quality" and ordered at an excess and that 11 patients had implants improperly placed.
Dr. Woods also allegedly failed to monitor patients following tooth extractions. When Dr. Woods submitted his license renewal applications in 2014 and 2016, he allegedly failed to disclose that he was being investigated by the state dental board.
By surrendering his license, Dr. Woods will be ineligible to receive another dental license in Maryland.