State Forces Dental Plan to Stop Using Internet

LOS ANGELES — Megdal Dental Care and its owner were ordered Tuesday to “cease and desist” from operating an unlicensed Internet dental care plan, which displayed online ads that offered annual memberships for $20.

The state Department of Corporations issued the order about a week after 4-year-old Javier Villa died while receiving dental care at a Megdal Dental Care clinic in Santa Ana. State officials say they want to know whether the boy was part of the Internet dental care plan, said Bill McDonald, assistant commissioner of enforcement. None of the clinics will be closed as a result of Tuesday’s action.

Calls to Megdal were not returned.

Javier Villa, the boy’s father, said the family was not a member of the plan but that someone outside the clinic urged him to bring Javier and his 2-year-old sister inside.

Villa said he was told that his children would be well cared for and that his wife would receive a free teeth cleaning if he brought his son in. The boy was rushed to an emergency room after staff noticed he was unconscious in a “papoose board,” to which he had been strapped because he was squirming. The boy died a short while later. The cause of death is still under investigation.

On the Internet, the Megdal Dental Club promoted annual memberships for $20, which entitled the member to some free treatment and 55% discounts on other services. The ads also stated that the club “is not a Dental Insurance Plan and therefore is not subject to the Knox Keene regulations.”

Corporations Commissioner Keith Bishop said in a written release that the Knox Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, which requires licenses for “clubs” and other HMO plans, was put in place to “guarantee protection” of consumers.

“When discount dental care or medical services are provided based on a prepaid or periodic charge, a license is required,” Bishop said. “That license is for the protection of the public.”

The state’s order was delivered to Megdal’s Santa Ana corporate offices late Tuesday afternoon, McDonald said.

Besides Santa Ana, Megdal has eight Southern California dental offices, including ones in Stanton, Mission Viejo, Long Beach, Norwalk, Lawndale, La Habra, Bellflower and West Covina.

“The Department of Corporations has made it a priority to identify unlicensed health-care service plans and bring them in compliance with applicable state laws,” Bishop said.