(gazette) Sterling Mustered screamed and cried at the sight of “anybody in scrubs” in the years following his one visit to Small Smiles Dentistry for Children in Colorado Springs. “It was a classic abuse situation,” said his mother, Laura Mustered, a psychologist, “but it was done in a place of trust.” The boy, 9, was just a preschooler at the time of his dental appointment in 2004. She was not permitted to be with him during the visit. He emerged with two fillings, bruise marks on his neck, and a story that the dentist climbed on top of him to hold him down. Federal authorities announced the company will pay million and interest to settle allegations that it was exploiting poor children to profit from Medicaid. He returned to the waiting room drenched in sweat and hysterical. His parents filed a police report, although criminal charges were never filed. The dentist he saw afterward questioned the necessity of the fillings. Similar stories — many of them far worse — have come out over the years about Small Smiles and other clinics that are part of its national chain, FORBA.

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