Anchorage dentist who pulled patient’s tooth while riding hoverboard found guilty by judge

An Anchorage dentist has been found guilty of extracting a patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard and unnecessarily sedating patients to maximize Medicaid payments, among a slew of other charges.

Based on “simply overwhelming” evidence presented by the state, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton found Seth Lookhart guilty on all 46 charges against him, Wolverton said in a written verdict released Friday. The charges included Medicaid fraud, reckless endangerment and “unlawful dental acts.”

“Perhaps most notable of all is the fact that this overwhelming amount of evidence was often supported, and often in excruciating detail, by Dr. Lookhart’s own texts, photos and videos,” Wolverton said in the verdict.

[Defense attorney apologizes for Anchorage dentist who pulled tooth while riding a hoverboard]

Lookhart and his former office manager, Shauna Cranford, were charged with billing nearly $2 million in intravenous sedation without proper justification. Charges were filed in 2017, and that year the Alaska Board of Dental Examiners suspended Lookhart’s licenses to practice dentistry and sedation.

Cranford accepted a consolidated plea agreement on 40 charges last year.

During the trial, which began Nov. 12, Lookhart’s defense attorney apologized for his client’s “idiotic" behavior and said Lookhart felt remorse for his actions. The defense attorney, Paul Stockler, also argued Lookhart and Cranford did not falsify all the Medicaid claims they were accused of falsifying.

Lookhart’s sentencing is scheduled for April 30.