CHICAGO (CBS) – Many patients have complained about the same Illinois dentist, concerned about what he put in their mouths.
Their allegations prompted the state and a suburban police department to launch an investigation.
The last time Monica Bailey sat in a dentist’s chair, she was optimistic. Now, she is nervous, like her teeth are grinding.
“It’s tough,” Bailey said. “It is. I just hope we can have a positive outcome.”
It was February when he visited an office building in Schaumburg. On the eighth floor, Bailey and her 15-year-old daughter had an appointment to get braces at a business called The Veneer Experts.
“I cleaned my teeth and started, you know, putting the glue on and putting the braces on and I thought what he was doing was how it was supposed to be done,” Bailey said.
Woman promoted business on TikTok
He said that the woman in a TikTok videos they worked their teeth. Her name is Monica Davis. State records show Davis registered The Veneer Experts as a business in July 2023.
“We’re changing lives, one smile at a time,” Davis said in the TikTok video.
A change was what tattoo artist Ralph Jones wanted. You’d be hard-pressed to find a photo of him with a toothy smile.
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“They just started to wear out and fall out, and over the years, it started to make me look really bad,” Jones said.
A $2,000 price tag and huge customer smiles on The Veneer Experts Instagram page sold him. Jones visited Davis and her team for shiny tooth covers called veneers.
Jones said he was told new smiles last eight to 10 years, but that wasn’t the case for him.
“I woke up to a chipped tooth,” he said. “Like there was a piece of him chipped away.”
Disappear act after the procedure
Bailey said her problems began when she tried to make a follow-up appointment.
“One of the numbers got disconnected. The other one, no one was answering,” Bailey said.
Davis was nowhere to be found, literally. CBS 2 was unable to locate her name on the state website where dentists are required to register. In Illinois, dentists must be licensed.
“A license ensures that the individual has had a high level of quality education and training,” said Lindsay Wagahoff, director of government relations at the Illinois State Dental Society.
And it guarantees that a dentist is well versed in patient hygiene and safety. Wagahoff explained the consequences for anyone touching teeth without permission.
“Sometimes, cease and desist letters are sent, and obviously there’s a process after that in the court system,” he said.
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This process could lead to an arrest. Davis knows all this.
He was accused of illegal practice in Las Vegas
Apparently, The Veneer Experts also operated out of a Las Vegas strip mall, and Davis was arrested for illegally practicing dentistry without a Nevada dental license.
When asked about how she saw Davis’ face, Bailey said she “couldn’t believe it.”
Court documents show Davis was released by police in Nevada on Jan. 31. It was only nine days later when Bailey said she and her daughter got braces from the dentist without a license.
“It’s crazy to me that he can do this in Las Vegas and post bail, and you come here and do the same thing,” Bailey said. “It’s like you’re not afraid.”
Speaking of fear, Jones took a photo of his chipped veneer.
“I don’t know what he put in my mouth,” she said.
Questions about procedures
CBS 2 was able to share the photo with a board certified dentist, Dr. Laura Zalay.
“I mean, the gum tissue is what I’m most concerned about, because if you can’t brush under those teeth, you’re not going to have teeth there for much longer,” Zalay said.
Bailey also got some bad news from Zalay, who examined her fake braces.
“They look like real braces, but they’re not attached to anything in the back, so there’s no way for the teeth to move,” Zalay said.
This means braces don’t fix anything.
Zalay asked Bailey if Davis had taken x-rays of her teeth. Bailey said she didn’t.
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“No x-rays? Because that’s obviously the first thing you’d want to make sure the teeth are healthy before you start moving them,” Zalay told Bailey.
CBS 2 was able to reach Davis on the phone.
Journalist: “So you don’t have any comment on the people you’ve done procedures on here in Illinois?”
Davis responded by hanging up.
CBS 2’s personal investigation revealed that Veneer experts were asked to leave their Schaumburg office. A building receptionist said they had received many calls from upset customers.
“We actually don’t even know how many people he did this to,” Jones said.
Bailey called the experience “a big disappointment.”
Jones added: “It’s wrong.”
It was a line that left one small business owner and others with no choice but to dip into their savings and start over.
CBS 2 reached out to Davis twice, and both times, she had nothing to say about her business or the allegations against her in Illinois or Nevada.
The next court date in Las Vegas is in May. CBS 2 has heard he may have to appear before a judge in Illinois.
Lauren Victory
