PHOENIX — An Arizona dentist with red flags in his background dating back 20 years could be weeks away from losing his right to practice in the state.
An administrative hearing for the revocation of Dr. Thomas Endicott’s dental license has been scheduled for December 29. An administrative law judge at the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings in Phoenix will hear evidence about whether Dr. Endicott met what’s called the “standard of care” when a patient died following a dental procedure in his office in 2021.
The judge will ultimately give a recommendation to the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners, who will decide whether to revoke the dental license Dr. Endicott has had in Arizona since 2012.
The ABC15 Investigators were the first to report that the dental board suspended Dr. Endicott’s license in 2022 after one of his patients died after a dental procedure.
The board investigated and shared the details at a public meeting in 2022. At that meeting, a dental board investigator said a 72-year-old woman was undergoing a procedure in Dr. Endicott’s office to remove a dozen teeth for upper and lower dentures.
The investigator said the patient had difficulty breathing after being given anesthesia.
She lost consciousness.
Dr. Endicott gave her CPR.
Paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital.
But she was dead on arrival.
Dr. John Dovgan, a dentist and the board’s chief investigator, told the board there was a failure to identify a cardiac medical emergency and a failure to put oxygen on the patient.
Board members expressed concerns about Dr. Endicott’s attempts to resuscitate the patient. Endicott told the board he was CPR-certified.
When questioned, he said he used five chest compressions to two breaths. Arizona Dental Board President Dr. Anthony Herro, who is a dentist, told Endicott the ratio for one person giving CPR is 30 compressions to two breaths.
Herro later told the board that Dr. Endicott, “completely mismanaged a medical emergency.”
David Williams, Endicott’s attorney, called the death “an unfortunate event.”
“It’s our position Dr. Endicott appropriately managed the patient’s care and treatment as he tried to walk through an emergent situation,” he told the board.
At the meeting, Dr. Endicott agreed to refrain from practicing in Arizona for the time being. He later signed an agreement with the board that prohibits him from practicing in Arizona until the outcome of his disciplinary case.
The dental board tried to go a step further earlier this year, offering him a disciplinary surrender of his Arizona license. He declined. So the board moved forward with a formal hearing.
As ABC15 previously reported, this is not Dr. Endicott’s first time before the dental board.
He pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and overprescribing narcotics in Michigan in 2005, according to court records.
He also pleaded guilty the same year to attempted criminal sexual conduct after a female employee said he pinched her on the buttocks. He had to register as a sex offender because of that charge wherever he lived.
He lost his dental license in Michigan and Illinois as a result of the criminal charges.
In 2012, records show he applied for an Arizona dental license. He disclosed his criminal history to the Arizona dental board in his application, writing a letter and appearing before the board to plead his case.
“I’ve paid all my debts to society,” he told the board in an October 2012 public meeting. “I moved out here, and I’d like to start a new life and begin again.”
The board first denied him a license because of his criminal convictions and because he had lost his dental license in other states. But he appealed and was granted a license in December 2012. None of the board members who voted on his license are still on the dental board.
It wasn’t long before Endicott had to appear before the board again.
In his second year in practice in Arizona, the board disciplined him after a patient complained that a root canal damaged her tooth. That same year, the board disciplined him again for being late in completing his continuing education.
In 2018, he failed to inform the board that he was arrested for not having a current address on file as a sex offender. The board ordered him to take ethics training.
A few years later, in 2021, one of his patients died after a dental procedure.
Dr. Endicott and his attorney did not return phone calls seeking comment from ABC15.
He currently has a dental license free of restrictions in Utah. Records with the Utah Department of Commerce say he has been licensed there since 2016.
Investigative Reporter Nate Carlisle, who is with Scripps station FOX 13 Utah, caught up with him recently at a dental office in a Salt Lake City suburb.
He declined to comment.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
