Feb 26, 2008 6:56 pm US/Eastern
CBS 2 HD Busts Fake Brooklyn Dentist
Former Patient 'On Verge Of Suicide' After Procedure Goes Awry
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Tanya Bolotina, the former patient of the fake dentist, Marina Lagunova, told CBS 2 HD that Luganova has been practicing dentistry for years inside her Brooklyn apartment.
CBS
A fake dentist who's allegedly been seeing patients for years out of her apartment is facing criminal prosecution after a former patient suffered through extreme physical and emotional pain following a procedure gone awry.
Officials didn't begin to take serious action until CBS 2 exclusively broke the story to them.
Tanya Bolotina, the former patient of the fake dentist, Marina Lagunova, told CBS 2 that Luganova has been practicing dentistry for years inside her Brooklyn apartment. When CBS 2 confronted Lagunova about what was behind the door of her apartment, she refused to show us.
But what she didn't know was that a CBS 2 hidden camera had already been inside. Video from the camera shows Lagunova converted the apartment into a fully functioning dental office. Some footage even shows her putting on gloves and examining a patient.
Lagunova is not licensed to be performing dentistry though. She's a student at New York University studying to be a dental hygienist. That's not what she told Bolotina, who visited Lagunova for some help several years ago.
"She said she was a dentist in Ukraine and I believed it. That's why I trusted her," said Bolotina.
Bolotina became Lagunova's patient in 2001. She knew Lagunova didn't have a license, but like many immigrants went anyway because the supposed dentist not only spoke her native tongue, but was cheaper.
Bolotina was born with a severe underbite and said she was thrilled when Lagunova told her she could fix her problem. So Lagunova filed down her top teeth and replaced them with veneers.
"When I came home, my child, my daughter, she was hysterically crying and she said, 'Mommy what did you do with yourself?'" said Bolotina.
That's just the beginning.
Bolotina said as the months and years went by, the muscles around her mouth began to tighten until her face became nearly paralyzed. She went to Columbia University's Medical Center for help.
"I wasn't able to speak, I wasn't able to eat," she said.
Video taken by doctors in 2004 showed how Bolotina couldn't even chew a piece of gum. It was then that she realized the veneers Lagunova put in three years earlier were the problem and had to come out.
"I have no teeth anymore. At some point, I was on the verge of suicide," she sayid
To make matters worse, she then learned Lagunova wasn't a dentist at all -- not in the Ukraine, not in the United States. So Bolotina called the police, the district attorney, and state officials. No one would listen.
The Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) which handles these cases took her complaint, investigated it, but let Lagunova off with a warning.
It wasn't until CBS 2 investigated that the OPD promised to take immediate action.
"I think it's critical that this person be removed from practice as soon as possible," said Daniel Kelleher, Director of Investigations for the OPD.
Back at the apartment-turned-practice, Lagunova insisted she did nothing wrong.
"I did not practice! Please, please believe me!" she pleaded with CBS 2.
State investigators said they don't believe her and will now go after her for criminal prosecution.
Meanwhile, Bolotina is slowly recovering and is looking for a doctor to help fix what she said Lagunova did to her.
If you want to report anyone practicing without a license, visit
http://www.op.nysed.gov/opd.htm.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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