Dr. Neil R. Woods, a dentist in Severna Park, Maryland recently found himself the target of unhappy patients when he abruptly closed his office. Many of his former patients had prepaid for services that he will no longer be providing. To express their frustration, a crowd of former patients gathered outside the dentist’s office earlier this week, claiming he owed them money. Woods was inside his office during the gathering and had to be escorted to his van by Ann Arundel County police officers.
One of the frustrated former patients is Sherry Howard and she’s already filed a suit against Woods and another dentist, Alejandro Rabanal, over allegations of malpractice. The suit is seeking $30,000 and claims that when Woods examined her during a dental visit he “recommended that Rabanal was the best suited to address the connecting joint between her jaw bone and skull and her bite.” According to court documents, Rabanal “shaved down all of Howard’s teeth and they were ‘over-prepared’ for crowns that she did not need.” To make matters worse, “the crowns and prosthetics were too large and ill-fitting,” according to the suit.
Another disgruntled former patient is Cleòtis Lee. According to her, she “paid Woods $3,000 before Christmas for emergency surgery.” However, when she tried to schedule an appointment for the procedure, her calls to the office went unanswered. She said, “Since Woods got the payments, I can’t go nowhere else. I can’t afford it. I am on a fixed income. I can’t afford to pay multiple dentists. I am suffering from pain.”
Karl Thompson is another former patient who prepaid for to have his back teeth removed and replaced. However, when he tried to schedule a follow-up appointment after Woods removed his teeth, the office kept canceling them. He said:
“I came to office after the third cancellation and on the door, it said the office closed temporarily, due to his illness. I came back a few weeks later and another note said ‘This office has been closed.’ ”
As a result of his experience. Thompson reached out to lawyers and hopes to recoup some of his money back. He added that after spending $22,000 for dental work, he has “had problems in his gums where Woods removed his teeth.” He said, “Money that was supposed to go into my account, Woods took it. When I went to my bank to see where the money went, found out that Woods had already cashed the check.”
Another former patient, Frances Smith, started seeing Woods back in 2017. She said over the years she spent $30,000 to get implants and permanent teeth. She added:
“In three years, he put in four implants. Two were crooked and two fell out. The bridge I have in my mouth broke, I told Woods about it and he didn’t do anything. I had to go home and crazy glue my teeth.”
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