Georgia authorities have shut down an illegal dental practice owned and operated by a man calling himself the “CEO of A List Smiles.”
Brandon Dillard practiced dentistry and performed veneer installation and maintenance services without a license from Jan. 8, 2021, to Sept. 23, 2024, Michael Hill II, assistant chief investigator for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a criminal complaint obtained by USA TODAY.
Dillard used his business Instagram page, @alistbrandon, to promote himself and advertise his services, Hill wrote. He would share images and short-form videos of himself performing the veneer installations to his 158,000 followers, according to the complaint. In some posts, he would even advertise sweepstakes for the $5,500 veneers.
Some of Dillard’s posts would also advertise “face training” classes he offered, where he accepted payments of up to $6,000 to train other people without a license to practice dentistry in Georgia, Hill wrote. Dillard has additional social media accounts, including a TikTok, where he shares similar posts performing veneer installations, he added.
Dillard does not have a valid license to practice dentistry in Georgia from the Georgia Board of Dentistry, according to Hill.
It is unclear whether Dillard currently has legal representation.
“Brandon Dillard is not a dentist”
Dillard is currently being held in the Fulton County Jail on eight charges, including four felony counts of practicing dentistry without a license, two counts of theft by deception, one count of criminal solicitation to commit a felony and one count of Georgia Racketeer Influenced Violation. And the corrupt organizations (RICO) ACT, inmate records show.
“Brandon Dillard is not a dentist. He was never a dentist. And as much as he wants to play one on Instagram, he’s not,” Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten said. WSB-TV.
Fulton County District Attorney’s investigators and Atlanta police raided the offices of “A List Smiles Atlanta” and arrested Dillard on Thursday, WSB-TV reported, citing Wooten.
“If you walked into it and you thought it was a dental office and you looked at the equipment, it appears to be legal,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told the Atlanta-based TV station. “But that’s what the best scammers do, is they do everything they can to look legitimate. And in this case, this is an illegal business. The problem is that the consequences are on someone’s health.”
Willis is asking all of Dillard’s current and former patients to come forward, as well as the people he trained, as they too could face criminal charges if they practice dentistry without a license.
“They were getting people to come and take these classes so you could get rich too. But you were getting rich doing something that is completely illegal,” Willis said, according to WSB-TV. “We’ve had dentists not only locally, but out of state, come in and report that they are concerned about their patients who had received services at this location and the long-term effects of the damage.”
