Former dentist arrested, allegedly practiced without a license
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW/Gray News) – A former dentist was arrested over the weekend on allegations he has been practicing dentistry without a license.
Michael Charles Putnam, 67, was booked into custody by the Topeka Police Department on Saturday, Shawnee County Department of Corrections booking records show.
Court documents state that a warrant for Putnam’s arrest was issued June 24 after he failed to appear at a motions hearing in Shawnee County District Court.
According to court records, Putnam faces three misdemeanor charges of false impersonation, which originated in December of 2021. Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay says the charges stem from allegations of practicing dentistry without a valid dental license.
WIBW has requested more information from authorities in regards to the charges Putnam has faced since the end of last year.
The Kansas Dental Board lists Putnam’s dental license status as revoked as of December 2021. It was originally issued in 1982.
An emergency order filed by the Kansas Dental Board on Dec. 14, 2020, lists multiple complaints over the years about Putnam’s work as a dentist.
Those allegations include unclean office conditions, lack of professionalism, his throwing of dental instruments during exams, leaving large amounts of cement on a patient’s teeth, putting his bare hands into a patient’s mouth and being “unreasonably angry” during an exam.
A patient in November 2020 accused Putnam of surgically removing a tooth without an assistant or necessary suction or tongue retraction. The document states Putnam failed to remove a root tip, failed to take a post-extraction X-ray, and caused a tear in the floor of the patient’s mouth and grooves in the buccal bone.
During an investigation in 2016, Putnam was said to have thrown his glasses and violently slammed his fist into a wall and door, accusing the investigator of trying to “destroy him.”
Other complaints include claims that patients were given too much lidocaine and oxycodone, and that the dentist failed to keep accurate data on dispersal of narcotics.
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