A North Little Rock dentist who is the governor's pick to fill a vacancy on a state board regulating dentistry was disciplined three times by the board in the 1990s, including once for over-prescribing narcotics, state records show.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally announced his appointment of Dr. Richard Smith, a dentist working at several Monarch Dental locations, to the Board of Dental Examiners on Friday. Before the pick became public, a letter circulated among dentists this week criticizing Hutchinson for going against the wishes of the Arkansas State Dental Association, a private industry group.
According to the letter, which is unsigned, the Dental Association recommended another dentist, Dr. Lauren Harmon of Jonesboro, to serve on the board. The letter called the governor's decision to go against the group's recommendation "unprecedented in modern times," adding that Smith was not a member of the group.
Three Arkansas dentists who received the letter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it came from the Dental Association. The letter was first reported by the Arkansas Times, and a copy was also faxed to the Democrat-Gazette's offices.
The Dental Association's executive director, Billy Tarpley, did not respond to several phone calls or emails requesting comment over the past two days.
A person who answered the phone at Monarch Dental's offices in Pine Bluff, where Smith was working Thursday, said he was not taking phone calls.
In a statement delivered through a spokesman, Hutchinson defended his pick as highly recommended, adding that Smith would bring an "important perspective." Asked to clarify, the spokesman said in an email the board serves to regulate "dental professionals of all backgrounds."
"I am disappointed with the unnecessary attacks against Dr. Smith by the Dental Association for issues that were resolved over 20 years ago," Hutchinson said in the statement. "As the Dental Association's release makes clear, Dr. Smith is not a member of their association. When it comes to appointments, I've learned that you cannot satisfy every interest group."
He added, "I have no doubt Dr. Smith will represent the profession of dentistry well on the State Board of Dental Examiners."
A review of the governor's campaign-finance reports for his 2018 re-election campaign did not show any donations by Smith or his employer.
A political action committee associated with the Dental Association gave $2,700 to Hutchinson in January, records show. Harmon, the group's pick, also contributed $500 in April.
According to its website, the Board of Dental Examiners licenses dentists and dental hygienists, registers dental corporations and disciplines licensees for violating state law or the board's own rules and regulations.
In January 1990, the board ruled that Smith had over-prescribed schedule II narcotics to patients, based on Smith's own admission of "errors in judgment," according to legal records available on the board's website. Smith's license was suspended for a month, and he was fined $1,000 and placed on probation for 18 months.
More than a year later, the board met again and found that Smith had erred while performing root canals and the administration of nitrous oxide. The board reprimanded Smith, fined him $2,000, and suspended his license for four months.
Smith appealed, and a circuit judge found the punishment was unduly harsh. After seeing that Smith completed 50 hours of continuing education, the judge lowered his suspension to a month. However, Smith appeared before the board again later that year, on charges that he continued to practice while his license was suspended. The board suspended him for another month.
Again Smith appealed the decision, and in 1993 reached an agreement with the board in which he was given a four-month suspension, with two months already having been served, and the rest put on hold pending the completion of probation. Smith did not appear before the board on disciplinary charges after 1993, according to his records.
The letter sent to state dentists suggested that Smith's record conflicted with Hutchinson's attempts to confront opioid abuse. "In light of the national focus on opioid abuse, the Governor's office promoted legislation in the 2017 [legislative session] to monitor the over-prescribing of class II and III narcotics," the letter read.
Hutchinson devoted his weekly radio address to the issue Friday, calling opioid addiction "the biggest challenge we face." On Thursday, President Donald Trump declared the opioid addiction epidemic a national public health emergency.
The number of prescription opioid deaths in the U.S. has ballooned in the last decade, surpassing 22,000 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Arkansas, more than 150 people have died from overdoses of prescription opioids in each year between 2007 and 2015, according to the CDC.
Other state and national clearinghouses for drug data have reported different numbers on the opioid death toll.
Harmon, who does not have a disciplinary action listed by the board, would have been a better choice, the unsigned letter contends.
"As in years past, [the Arkansas State Dental Association] recommended a dentist who had been vetted at the district and state level for ethical and professional conduct, and noted as a person who would serve the citizens of Arkansas over and above their colleagues," the letter said.
Smith would not be the first member to serve with a history of disciplinary action. Current board member Dr. James Moore of Hampton was cited in 1997 for unsanitary and unsafe conditions, including failing to change surgical gloves between each patient or procedure, according to records. Moore was fined $450 and given a three-year probation.
When reached by phone Friday, Moore said the citation dealt with a hygienist in his office, and it was not a major violation. Still, he said it was likely to have come up when then-Gov. Mike Beebe appointed him to the board in 2014.
"I'm sure the governor went through that," Moore said.
Moore added that he also received the letter from the Dental Association, but had not given it much thought, as the decision was the governor's to make.
Appointees to the nine-member Board of Dental Examiners must be confirmed by the Arkansas Senate, which is not in session. Smith was appointed to replace Dr. Bob Carter of Batesville, whose term expired in September.
Information for this article was contributed by Amanda Clair Curcio of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 10/28/2017