NY woman pretended to be a dentist and performed root canals on undocumented immigrants: cops

A Long Island woman is accused of posing as a dentist and performing dangerous root canals and dental extractions on undocumented and uninsured immigrants — giving one facial paralysis — even though she has no dental qualifications.

Suffolk County Police arrested Yolany Mejia Carranza, 55, on Thursday in connection with the sham practice.

Carranza is accused of running a makeshift dental clinic in Bay Ridge even though she never went to dental school.

“What she’s doing is extremely dangerous,” said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. “We don’t know what her background is. What we do know is she was not trained as a dentist.”

Police say they received tips from several injured patients, including one who suffered nerve damage from a procedure, which caused partial facial paralysis.

“It has to be extremely traumatic,” said Catalina.

Detectives executed a search warrant and discovered a fully-functioning dental office.

Police say Carranza was exploiting the Hispanic community — mostly undocumented immigrants without insurance, who found out about her practice through word of mouth. Her business was cash-only, and police believe she got antibiotics from overseas, but performed procedures without adequate anesthesia.

She is alleged to have run the scam in Bay Shore, and at a prior location in Huntington Station, for a total of eight years. Police said they “could not even guess” how long her victim list was.

“I would imagine it’s extensive,” said Catalina.

Carranza was arraigned in court Friday and charged with three counts of unauthorized practice of a profession — a class E felony in New York.

She was released and is due back in Suffolk 1st District Court on April 1.

Carranza’s lawyer did not return a request for comment.

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