A 70-year-old Long Island woman allegedly turned her kitchen into an illicit dentist office – disturbingly extracting five teeth from a trusting patient who paid her nearly $2,000, prosecutors said.
Gladys Serrano, 70, was hit with criminal charges this week for running the dental practice out of her one-bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
“Practicing dentistry without proper authorization poses an incredibly serious risk to public health and safety,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement. “This defendant’s alleged home operation endangered the well-being of at least one person in need of dental care.”
Prosecutors said a woman contacted Serrano — who doesn’t appear to be licensed to practice dentistry — through a referral to schedule a single tooth extraction on July 26.
The victim showed up at Serrano’s makeshift office – with a hanging curtain dividing the kitchen – where the alleged phony dentist told her she actually needed five teeth pulled, because they were rotting, the DA’s office said.
Serrano extracted the teeth, gave the victim paper towel pieces to absorb a large amount of blood and instructed her to rinse with salt water, officials said.
Serrano also told the woman she’d need a dental bridge – so she returned to the office several times between Aug. 16 and Dec. 4 hoping to get one, the DA’s office said.
But the victim never received a bridge that fit her mouth, despite Serrano making additional molds of her mouth and filing down the impressions, prosecutors said.
During the 5-month period of visits, the patient paid Serrano a total of $1,950, according to the DA’s office.
Investigators searched Serrano’s apartment, finding a curtain hanging in the kitchen and a patient chair positioned near a sink, according to prosecutors.
Drawers were stuffed with apparently used dental instruments, as well as impression molds, extraction tools, tartar scrapers; and a large container was chock-full of empty vials of medication and used dental needles, the DA’s office said.
Investigators also recovered boxes labeled as single-use dental needles, capsules of the antibiotic Amoxicillin, the anti-inflammatory Relaflex and the local anesthetic Lidocaine, officials said.
A search of New York State records did not turn up anyone with the name of Gladys Serrano who is licensed to practice dentistry, according to prosecutors.
Serrano pleaded not guilty during her arraignment Tuesday on one count of unauthorized practice of a profession, a class E felony.
Judge Charles G. McQuair released her to pre-trial services with electronic monitoring, ordered her to surrender her passport and restricted her from traveling outside of the state.
was arraigned Tuesday in connection to the illicit dental practice she is accused of running out of the kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street in Hempstead, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
While only one victim has so far been identified, Nassau authorities believe more may have visited Serrano for treatment.
Anyone else who believes they may have been victimized by Serrano is asked to call the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office of Immigrant Affairs at 516-571-7756.
If convicted, Serrano could spend up to four years behind bars, the DA’s office said.
She is due back in court on Jan. 8, 2025.
