A woman has been charged with practicing unlicensed dentistry in the kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment.
Gladys Serrano, aged 70, appeared in court before Judge Charles G. McQuair. She faced charges of Unauthorized Practice of a Profession, categorized as an E felony. Pleading not guilty, she was granted release under the supervision of pre-trial services, with electronic monitoring. As part of the conditions, she was required to surrender her passport and prohibited from leaving the state of New York.
The defendant, Serrano, is scheduled to appear in court on January 8, 2025. If found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of four years in prison. According to DA Donnelly, the act of practicing dentistry without proper authorization poses a grave threat to the health and safety of the public.
“This defendant’s alleged home operation endangered the well-being of at least one person in need of dental care. We encourage anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Gladys Serrano to contact my Office of Immigrant Affairs at 516-571-7756.”
Officials investigating the case revealed in a press release that the victim reached out to Serrano for a single tooth extraction on July 26, 2024, based on a referral. The victim visited Serrano’s office, purportedly situated in a one-bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street in Hempstead, where a hanging curtain separated the kitchen.
After a brief visual inspection, Serrano allegedly informed the victim that five teeth needed to be pulled due to decay, as well as that the victim would require a bridge.
The defendant allegedly pulled the victim’s teeth, handed her pieces of paper towel to soak up the significant amount of blood in the area, and instructed her to rinse with salt water. After the extractions, the defendant instructed the victim to visit him multiple times.
During the period between August 16, 2024, and December 4, 2024, the victim made multiple visits to the defendant’s apartment in an effort to retrieve the dental bridge. Despite the defendant’s attempts to create a proper fit by taking additional molds of her mouth and filing down the impressions, the victim was never provided with a bridge that matched her mouth.
During the period from July 26, 2024, to December 4, 2024, the defendant was paid a sum of $1,950 for providing dental services. A search warrant was executed at Serrano’s residence, where investigators discovered a curtain hanging in the kitchen and a patient chair placed near a sink. The drawers were filled with dental instruments that seemed to have been used, including impression molds, extraction tools, tartar scrapers, and a large container containing what appeared to be several empty vials of medication and used dental needles.
During the search, various items were found including boxes labeled as single-use dental needles, Amoxicillin capsules, Relaflex, and Lidocaine. However, upon conducting a search of New York State records, no licensed dentists by the name of Gladys Serrano were found.
On December 10, 2024, the defendant turned themselves in to Nassau County District Attorney Detective Investigators.
