Dentist accused of making fraudulent Medisave claims

The dentist suspended and fined for letting a therapist fit braces on a patient is now contesting allegations that he forged documents and falsely claimed about $30,000 from Medisave.

Sng Wee Hock, 46, faces 13 charges of cheating and 11 of forgery.

Prosecutors told the court yesterday that Sng made fraudulent Medisave claims between 2013 and 2014 for surgical procedures that he did not perform.

Sng doctored photographs as proof of the procedures when the Health Ministry instigated an audit, said Deputy Public Prosecutors Eugene Sng and Gerald Tan in their opening submissions.

He ran his own practice, WH Dental Surgeons, at the time of his alleged offences.

"The charges against the accused arise in respect of his treatment of nine patients who had sought the surgical insertion of dental implants at WH Dental," said DPPs Sng and Tan. All nine were quoted a price of about $4,000 for each implant and many were told by Sng the treatments were fully claimable with Medisave, said prosecutors.

Sng then allegedly made claims for two types of surgical treatment for all nine patients - a "foreign body removal" and "autogenous bone grafts".

But Sng's patients did not recollect undergoing such procedures, said the prosecution.

Sng is also accused of lodging claims for implants that had already been inserted into his patients previously. In total, he claimed about $29,500 from Medisave through such methods.

He doctored photographs to make it appear as though the surgical treatments had taken place, said prosecutors.

In some instances, he allegedly added a "single distinct white dot" to purportedly show a "foreign body" prior to a procedure. There was also the alleged "augmentation of an image" to make a tooth socket appear more distinct, purportedly to show a socket before the bone graft procedure.

"The accused's dishonest conduct was not isolated... It was a consistent course of conduct deliberately intended to subvert the rules on Medisave withdrawal limits and the Medisave audit process," said the prosecution.

It was reported in June that Sng was suspended for four months and fined $18,000 for letting an oral health therapist fit braces on a patient and for not keeping proper notes.

The trial will continue today.