Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Gov. Deal asks Kool Smiles chief to quit dentistry oversight board

Marietta-based Kool Smiles and its related companies have more than 130 locations nationwide, 10 of them in Georgia, according to court records. JOHNNY EDWARDS / JREDWARDS@AJC.COM
Marietta-based Kool Smiles and its related companies have more than 130 locations nationwide, 10 of them in Georgia, according to court records. JOHNNY EDWARDS / JREDWARDS@AJC.COM
By Johnny Edwards
Jan 24, 2018

A state dentistry board member whose company has been accused of performing painful, unnecessary dental work on children as part of a Medicaid fraud scheme has resigned.

Dale Mayfield, who has resigned from the state dentistry board at Gov. Deal’s request, is pictured here on the Efficiency in Group Practice website, at DentalGroupPractice.com.
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Gov. Nathan Deal asked Dale G. Mayfield, chief dental officer for Marietta-based Kool Smiles, to step down on Tuesday amid questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his position on the Georgia Board of Dentistry.

“Given the distractions that might be caused,” Mayfield said in a written statement Tuesday, “by news of the voluntary settlement between Kool Smiles and the government regarding services rendered more than seven years ago, I felt it was in the best interest of the board for me to step down.”

This month, Mayfield and his company settled a case with the U.S. Justice Department for $23.9 million, after the feds accused Kool Smiles of committing millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud in by filing hundreds of thousands of false claims. A 2013 federal complaint said the company preyed on low-income children.

Read the AJC's premium story on the fraud allegations against Mayfield's company, with more about his resignation, at MyAJC.com.

About the Author

Johnny Edwards, a member of the AJC’s investigative team, covers state and local government and private sector regulation.

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