An Alaska dentist charged with fraud and unnecessarily sedating patients performed a procedure while riding on a hoverboard, authorities said.
A former patient testified Wednesday at the trial of Seth Lookhart that an investigator showed her a 2016 video of the dentist riding the motorized, wheeled vehicle while extracting one of her teeth when she was sedated.
“I obviously wouldn’t have approved that. That’s dangerous,” Veronica Wilhelm said on the stand, calling Lookhart’s alleged actions unprofessional.
Lookhart also sedated Wilhelm’s son for a teeth cleaning, she said.
The Anchorage dentist denied the fraud allegations but admitted to riding the hoverboard during the procedure, his attorney Paul Stockler said.
Stockler described his client’s actions as “absolutely stupid.”
“But I’ve seen much more dangerous things where no doctor has been charged,” the lawyer said.
Stockler gave Wilhelm a chance to address his client directly, KTUU-TV reported.
“(You) Probably could’ve been a really good dentist,” she said. “I don’t have anything bad to say about taking out my tooth, I appreciate that, but I just think that what you did was outrageous, narcissistic you know, and crazy.”
Authorities said Lookhart fraudulently billed Medicaid around $1.8 million and stole $250,000 from his partners. The state suspended his dentistry license in 2017.