05/06/2014
You won’t find his name in the Yellow Pages. You won’t find it in New Mexico’s dental board database. But you will find a New Mexico man performing discount dental work in his rundown mobile home in violation of state law.
You won’t find his name in the Yellow Pages. You won’t find it in New Mexico’s dental board database. But you will find a New Mexico man performing discount dental work in his rundown mobile home in violation of state law.
The investigative team at KOB Eyewitness News 4 confronted Curtis Abeyta in Chimayo after he agreed to examine “Johnny,” the station’s undercover producer. His home is surrounded by pit bulls and sits among abandoned mobile homes off a county road.
“Oh, he wanted me to look at his teeth,” Abeyta said at first.
Before the appointment, KOB recorded multiple phone conversations with Abeyta. He explained that he makes and repairs dentures – full and partial dentures. Johnny said he had a bad tooth. Abeyta offered to help.
“If you pull that tooth, I can make you one,” Abeyta said in the first phone call.
By the third phone call, Abeyta said he’d charge Johnny $80 for the tooth.
“I just do the work over here in my lab,” he said. “It’s my house.”
Abeyta refused to show KOB the lab when asked if it’s hygienic and safe, but he said it is.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “We use sterilization stuff, you know?”
Longtime Albuquerque dentist Dr. Marty Armijo expressed his fears about Abeyta’s work and the supposed lab.
“One of the most important concerns is what protocol is being followed as far as infection control,” Armijo said.
He said he’s required to put safety first by making sure all of his tools are sterilized each time he uses them to treat a patient. He uses two dry-heat sterilizers for metal tools and a cold sterilizer for plastics.
State law requires Armijo to inspect his sterilizers on a regular basis and log the results, which he submits to state regulators.
He said tainted or dirty dental tools could easily spread infectious diseases including hepatitis and AIDS.
“You’re at risk all the time,” Armijo said.
State law also requires Armijo to authorize a lab to create or repair a patient’s dentures or partials. The practice is similar to a physician who writes prescriptions for medication. Labs cannot work with patients directly.
In Chimayo, Abeyta does not have a dental license. He’s in violation of state law since he tried to examine Johnny directly without prior authorization from Johnny’s dentist.
Abeyta insisted that KOB misinterpreted state law.
“You better study up some more better on that, no? You better study up on it,” he said. “I don't work in nobody's mouth, so I'm not doing anything illegal.”
Much like Dr. Armijo, state regulators and state police disagree with Abeyta. KOB will air their comments in a second story tomorrow on KOB Eyewitness News 4 at 10 p.m. KOB also uncovered court recordings proving there was concern about Abeyta’s dental practices months ago.
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