Dr. Rokshana Chherawala has admitted that she engaged in professional misconduct by:
- billing a dental insurer for management of oral disease when no disease was diagnosed and a Velscope procedure was performed;
- billing for treatment other than that which she provided to three patients;
- billing for unnecessary treatment that had no clinical benefit to the patient to five patients;
- providing substandard treatment (prosthodontic, periodontic and endodontal) to nine patients;
- improper delegation to a dental hygienist by regularly permitting the hygienist to make a diagnosis through the use of the Velscope; and
- failing to maintain adequate dental records for seven patients.
The investigation of the complaint made by an insurance company resulted in a citation (notice of discipline hearing) against Dr. Chherawala. The hearing was avoided when the Inquiry Committee accepted the consent agreement that Dr. Chherawala submitted to address the College’s concerns.
Dr. Chherawala has consented to:
- a one month suspension from practice (effective April 20, 2016);
- payment of a $10,000 fine and $2,500 in costs;
- successful completion of a multi-day professional ethics course;
- successful completion of mentorship programs at her own expense, to be led by CDSBC-approved mentors for each of: prosthodontics (six sessions); periodontics (six sessions), and endodontics (one session)
- arrange for repair/replacement of substandard treatment provided to nine patients who were identified through the investigation, at no cost to them; and
- a monitoring and inspection agreement with the College that includes chart reviews.
Dr. Chherawala has also made a sizeable offer to repay funds to the insurance company.
Dr. Chherawala had earlier agreed to a limitation on her practice while the investigation was ongoing (she could not provide endodontic and prosthodontics procedures). Upon the successful completion of the remedial program outlined above, this practice limitation will be removed.
View the consent order proposal (PDF)