Complaint Review: Dr. Ralph J Sharow - Internet

This dentist recently opened a second dental office in the Cool Springs area. His dental license was revoked in New Jersey because of his healthcare fraud and income tax evasion convictions, both are felonies. He defrauded his patients, insurance companies including Tricare, and he defrauded the IRS. If you Google Ralph Sharow fraud all of this information and more are available to you. He admitted in court to re-writing patients' medical records and making false notes in patients' charts in order to hide the fact that he routinely billed patients for services he never performed. He admitted to this in court.

The investigation of Dr. Ralph Sharow started because of a patient who contacted Tricare to complain that Dr. Sharow billed him for a three tooth bridge that the patient objected to but was billed for it anyway. Dr. Sharow was convicted of healthcare fraud and income tax evasion, he had to pay a fine of over 1 million dollars to the IRS, and over $246,000 to several insurance companies including Tricare. He had to pay back the patient mentioned above for the money he spent at that visit, he had to forgive the balance of what he said the patient owed him for that three tooth bridge, and for the cost to repair what he had done to him. Dr. Sharow was sent to federal prison for 2 years and received 3 years supervised probation.

New Jersey revoked his license. He tried but failed to get his New Jersey license back. He tried to get a license in the states of Vermont, Maryland, Maine, and Kansas but they all denied him a license due to his crimes and convictions in New Jersey. Somehow, I can't imagine how this happened, but somehow he was able to convince the Tennessee Dental Board and the Nashville Health Department to give him a license even though five other states denied him a license. I was of course oblivious to all of this when I went to Dr. Sharow.

On my first visit, March 5th 2008, I was taken aback by how much money I had to spend but he explained to me that it was a lot because it had been awhile since I had seen a dentist and therefore I needed more work done than I had thought. I had no dental insurance at this time so I put this on two credit cards. They gave me the credit card receipts which only had the amounts on them but nothing that stated which procedures were performed.

On October 29th 2010 he did a root canal, drilled away part of this tooth, he said that happened because of the decay underneath the old filling, and he mixed something up in this room and applied that to my tooth. His assistant said this was a "different kind of crown". By this time I had dental insurance and so I paid my part and didn't think to check my EOB to see what he billed to my insurance. I found out later, when I retained a lawyer to force him to turn over my medical records and x-rays, that he did not bill my insurance for a root canal or crown on October 29th 2010.

He knew that he had already billed me for a root canal and crown for that very same tooth 2 years before on March 5th 2008. What he did bill my insurance for on October 29th 2010 was for a cleaning and x-rays. Four months later this "different kind of crown" broke in two above the gum line. Now that this tooth broke in two he and his assistant clamped something onto the tooth and pushed, not pulled, pushed this tooth out sideways until it finally broke out of my jaw along with a piece of my jawbone. Yes, I actually lost a piece of jawbone due to his kind of tooth extraction.

He then destroyed the expensive crown in front of this now open space and he destroyed the natural tooth behind this now open space in order to make room for a three tooth bridge. Does a three tooth bridge sound familiar? He billed me $3,600 for a three tooth bridge. I refuse to accept his three tooth bridge. He refused to turn over my medical records and x-rays. I retained a lawyer to get my medical records and x-rays. When I finally received my medical records and x-rays, that is when I found out that he had billed me on my very first visit, March 5th 2008, three years earlier for a root canal and crown on this very same tooth.

I never did receive any of the x-rays of this tooth even though I requested those from the Health Department and I paid for those x-rays. He also billed me for work that he did on another tooth which in turn became a hole in that tooth one year later and I had my new dentist to fix that. Dr. Sharow defrauded me out of $2,000 dollars on my very first visit, he billed me for services that he never performed, he re-wrote/forged the chart notes in my medical records in order to hide what he really did.

He caused permanent damage to my jaw, he caused me to lose three teeth, he caused me to lose a piece of my jawbone, he caused me to spend another $5,000 dollars to get a dental implant, grafts, and three crowns in order to repair what he had done to me. He has had a collection agency and lawyer calling and threatening me at work. He has put the charge for the three tooth bridge on my credit reports. I had PERFECT credit before I met Dr. Sharow. I would not send a dog to this dentist.