Dentist accused of using paper clips in patients’ root canals faces arraignment in Mass.

Arraignment set in Mass. paper-clip dentistry case

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A former dentist accused of using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals, then billing Medicaid for the more expensive parts, goes before a Massachusetts judge.

Michael Clair, who now lives in Maryland, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in New Bedford Superior Court on charges including assault and battery, larceny, submitting false claims to Medicaid and illegally prescribing drugs.

Prosecutors say Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002. He allegedly hired other dentists for his clinic and filed claims under their numbers between August 2003 and June 2005. He’s also accused of illegally prescribing drugs to staffers who then returned medications to him.

It’s not clear if he has an attorney.