A dentist in Alaska is on trial after allegedly extracting a sedated patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard, court documents show.
Seth Lookhart, 34, in Anchorage engaged in an "unlawful dental act" that "does not conform to minimum professional standards of dentistry," prosecutors charge, according to court records.
He also faces unrelated allegations of theft and engaging in a "scheme to defraud" Medicaid, among other charges, for a total of 43 counts. He is accused of fraudulently billing at least $1.8 million to Medicaid and stealing over $250,000 from business partners.
Lookhart allegedly performed the tooth extraction on Veronica Wilhelm in July 2016 while he was on a hoverboard in his office. He filmed himself doing the procedure and texted the video to at least eight people, investigators allege, citing phone records. In the text messages, Lookhart referred to his actions as a "new standard of care."
In the video, he is seen after the procedure raising his arms as if in victory.
Wilhelm, who testified against the dentist at his trial on Wednesday, said she was unaware of his use of the hoverboard or the video until she was contacted by investigators.
The Alaska Dental Board launched its investigation of Lookhart about a year after the incident and suspended his dental license.
Wilhelm said in court that she was sedated for the oral surgery because she is allergic to medicines used for local anesthetics.
"What you did was outrageous, narcissistic and crazy," Wilhelm said to Lookhart from the witness stand.
Paul Stockler, Lookhart's lawyer, apologized to Wilhelm on behalf of his client.
"I want you to know that as his lawyer, I apologize for what he did on that hoverboard. It's unacceptable and be assured that when I agreed to represent him I got in his face and told him what I thought about him for doing this," Stockler said.
But the lawyer said Lookhart is innocent of many of the other allegations.
"Many of the things he's charged for, he did not do and is not guilty of, so best-case scenario is that he'll be found guilty of a couple of the 43 counts and serve a sentence, maybe on an ankle monitor and be able to successfully resume practice some day," Stockler told the "Today" show.
