State pulls license of oral surgeon with Secaucus office for ‘hit and run dentistry’

The New Jersey Board of Dentistry has revoked the license of a northern New Jersey oral surgeon that operated in four counties, which included an office in Secaucus, for performing multiple acts of “hit and run dentistry,” officials said.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Dr. Andrew Maron, who owned a string of dental practices in Monmouth, Passaic, Hudson, and Union counties, and also practiced as an itinerant oral surgeon in those counties, has been prohibited from practicing in New Jersey.

This development comes after the state filed multiple allegations of negligence, gross negligence and professional misconduct against him in 2015.

In the 29-page final decision that brings closure to the state’s case, the board revoked the license of the 58-year-old Maron, finding that his treatment of patients – many of whom were low-income, elderly, or disabled – amounted to “hit and run dentistry” that reflected a “cavalier indifference to his patients’ well-being” and a “pattern of substantial deviations from the standard of care that existed unabated for years.”

According to findings in the case, Maron committed multiple acts of negligence and gross negligence and professional misconduct in his treatment of 17 patients between 2010 and 2015. Such conduct included:

• Pulling natural teeth and replacing them with dental implants with little or no regard to the restorability of the natural tooth.

• Placing numerous implants that failed, some dangerously so by migrating into the sinus, or by patients swallowing them.

• Performing, planning and undertaking treatment without regard to a patient’s ability to pay for the treatment.

•Discussing treatment with patients who were already in the chair receiving anesthesia;
Pressuring elderly patients into having implants placed without pre-operative diagnosis, review, or informed consent.

• Ignoring or failing to take patients’ medical histories, as well as submitting inaccurate and inflated billing for treatment.

• Failing to ensure that the dentists in his employ practiced with patients’ health, safety, and welfare in mind.

“Most dental practitioners are dedicated to the health and safety of their patients. But revolving-door dentistry that puts practitioners’ financial gain ahead of patient health and safety erodes public trust and undermines the integrity of the entire profession,” Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement.

“That’s why it’s important for the board to take decisive action in cases like this one, and we are pleased that the Board did so.”

Ultimately, Maron’s shoddy practices will end up costing him $517,397.44: civil penalties totaling $138,50, restitution totaling $75,041.22 to 15 patients, and aggregate costs and attorneys’ fees of $303,856.22.

“The sanction imposed reflects the Board’s assessment that respondent’s conduct reflects a
pattern of substantial deviations from the standard of care that existed unabated for years,” the dentistry board’s November 1st decision reads.

Maron also operated practices in Clifton, Monmouth, Union, and Eatontown.