Court affirms decision to pull license of 'hoverboard' dentist

The Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that the state dental board's decision to revoke the license of a dentist who was famously filmed pulling a sedated woman's tooth while riding a hoverboard and convicted for reckless endangerment and fraud was appropriate.

On May 24, the state's high court affirmed the Alaska Superior Court's 2022 decision that the state dental board used appropriate discretion in revoking the license of Dr. Seth Lookhart, according to the court opinion. Lookhart, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was convicted following a bench trial in 2020, made U.S. and international headlines when a video of him extracting a patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard went viral.

"The Board accordingly concluded that a more severe penalty was necessary, not to punish Lookhart, but to deter misconduct, 'ensure public safety and restore trust to the profession,'" the judges wrote in their opinion.

After a bench trial that lasted several weeks and concluded in January 2020, a judge found Lookhart guilty of four dozen charges, including medical assistance fraud, scheming to defraud, felony theft, and reckless endangerment. Lookhart was sentenced to 20 years in prison with eight years suspended, according to the ruling.

With the help of an office manager, Lookhart reportedly devised a scheme to push patients into choosing IV sedation over less costly anesthetic methods to maximize reimbursements from Alaska's Medicaid program. Also, the pair purportedly cut out Dr. Lookhart's former business partners by having the reimbursements sent to his home.

It was believed that testimony from patient Veronica Wilhelm led to Dr. Lookhart's conviction. In July 2016, the dentist was filmed riding a hoverboard while working on Wilhelm. He sent the video to several people and joked that it was the "new standard of care," according to court documents. Wilhelm only learned of the video, which can be seen below, when authorities contacted her. Wilhelm testified at trial that she did not consent to being filmed and wouldn't have done so if Lookhart had asked her.

In addition to overcharging Medicaid for more than $1.6 million, Lookhart's fraud scheme included reportedly giving patients dangerous sedation medication while also committing dozens of standards of care violations. Two of his patients nearly died due to his reckless sedation practices, according to the court opinion.

Furthermore, the judges stated that revoking his license was not an abuse of discretion based on Lookhart's "sheer magnitude of admitted misconduct," the judges wrote in their opinion.