Tulsa Man Is Doing Illegal Dental Work Out Of An Apartment

Wednesday, October 11th 2006, 10:35 am

By: News On 6

A man claiming to be a dentist in Tulsa is apparently operating without a license and has set up a make-shift clinic inside his south Tulsa apartment. He's putting on crowns, pulling teeth and handing out medicine, all with no authority.

The shocking thing about this story is no one is stopping him.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright says Nadia Quevedo had a terrible toothache recently and when her husband got the name of a dentist, he took her there. "He took me to apartments and I said, are you crazy? I'm not going to an apartment to get my teeth fixed." The pain was so unbearable by the weekend; she agreed to go see the man calling himself Dr. Fransisco Franco.

She says he put two crowns on her teeth. She paid him $500. She ended up in the hospital with an infection and then at another dentist. "That other dentist told her it was such a deep rooted cavity, the other guy didn't touch it did a really bad job."

When Nadia asked Franco about his qualifications, he showed her an Oklahoma license hanging on the wall, but we could find no record of one with the state.

The News on 6 had our interpreter make an appointment with Franco and we showed up instead. Lori Fullbright: â€œAre you Dr. Franco? Hi, we're with channel 6 and would like to ask you some questions about your dental practice. We questioned whether he had a valid Oklahoma license and he said he was too busy. Lori Fullbright: "You can't talk to us for a few minutes? So, you must not have a license. Yes, I would love to see your Oklahoma license please."

He shows us what he says is an Oklahoma Dentistry license, as well as diploma from the University of Louisville Dental School. He told us he's been a dentist for 30 years, 15 of them in Tulsa.

He says most of his clients are Latin Americans and he doesn't have an office to cut down on expenses. "If I would be practicing in other places, prices would be probably twice."

We got a copy of a real Oklahoma dentist license which clearly shows, Franco's is a fake. The Oklahoma Dental Board said Franco has never had a dental license. They've had lots of calls complaining about Franco, but no one has ever put the complaint in writing, so there's nothing they can do.

In Oklahoma, practicing any kind of medicine without a license is only a misdemeanor, so even if someone agreed to prosecute him, he'd probably get a fine.

The News on 6 also called the University of Louisville; they say the diploma he showed us was a fake, because they have no record of Franco ever attending.

The News on 6 contacted the Copper Mill Apartments where Franco is working and they said they'd check into it, although they didn't ask for his name or apartment number.