A Valley dentist, who had a patient die after dental surgery, has agreed to stop practicing for two years as part of a settlement with state regulators.
Dr. Sergio Gomes De Souza was facing a license revocation hearing scheduled for February.
Instead, the Arizona Board of Dental Examiners on Friday accepted a settlement offer from De Souza and his attorney, essentially suspending his dental license for two years and requiring him to come before the board again if he wants his license reinstated.
De Souza, who has been licensed in Arizona since 2015, was called before the dental board last year after one of his patients died after getting anesthesia during dental surgery.
The board alleged De Souza “failed to understand the severity of the patient’s significant heart failure.” He should have referred the man to an oral or maxillofacial surgery setting or used a separate anesthesia provider that included cardiac monitoring, the board said in a written order. The board said De Souza also should have avoided using five drugs to sedate the patient.
As a result, the board signed a disciplinary order, prohibiting De Souza from administering anesthesia to patients for at least a year and requiring him to take several hours of continuing education.
The board also banned him from doing teeth extractions and implants for six months. But within months, the board said it received a complaint that De Souza was still doing extractions and implants. De Souza admitted as much to the board.
“I am extremely embarrassed,” he told board members at an October meeting. “I'm extremely ashamed of what I did. I don't have a good excuse for you.”
When questioned further, he told the board he probably did about five prohibited procedures, though he couldn’t remember precisely.
“We gave a board order -- which was not only disregarded -- the only reason we found out that it was disregarded was secondhand,” said Dr. Anthony Herro, president of the dental board, at the meeting.
That wasn’t the board’s only concern. One patient he wasn’t supposed to be treating swallowed a dental tool called a “driver,” which is a dental tool used to place and tighten implants.
“Did a drive fall down the patient’s throat?” asked Dr. Lisa Bienstock, a dentist and the board’s vice president.
“Yes,” De Souza said.
He told the board that the patient appeared to be fine after the procedure, and he repeatedly followed up and asked the patient to get an X-ray to make sure.
The board in December voted to send Dr. De Souza to a revocation hearing, a rare step.
"These are really difficult decisions we have to make. We have to weigh years of public service going to dental school, having a business, all the other stuff,” said Dr. Russell Morrow, a dentist and board member.
On Friday, however, dental board members said they received a settlement offer from De Souza and his attorney. The board voted to approve what’s known as a
“stayed of revocation” of the license. This means his Arizona license is suspended for two years, and he must receive board approval to be re-admitted to practice dentistry.
By contrast, if he were to go through a license revocation hearing and have his license revoked, he would have to wait five years to reapply for licensure.
Jefferson Hayden, an attorney for De Souza, provided the following statement to ABC15 in response to a request for comment:
“Dr. Souza is very appreciative of all the hard work put into this resolution by the Board members, its staff, and its counsel. He is grateful for the faith they have placed in him in providing this path forward while also bringing closure to this matter for all those involved. He looks forward to demonstrating to the Board and the public that their faith was well placed.”
The ABC15 Investigators have spent months looking into cases of people being rushed to the emergency room after dental visits. State records show dentists have called for emergency services dozens of times in the past five years after patients received anesthesia during dental work and experienced medical complications.
Since 2018, seven Arizona dentists have had patients die after anesthesia procedures, according to a review of public documents by ABC15. All those dentists are still licensed, though some have practice restrictions. One of those dentists, Dr. Thomas Endicott – is suspended from practicing and is in the midst of a license revocation hearing. His hearing is expected to resume in March.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
