ROME, Ga. — A Floyd County dentist's office is facing new allegations of abuse, five years after a local and federal investigation into the business.
Hannah Powers filed a police report with the Rome Police Department Wednesday, alleging staff at Children's Dentistry of Rome left her 3-year-old daughter with a bruise under her chin after an appointment.
"She said they held her arms and her legs down and they told her to shut up repeatedly," Powers said. "She was crying. She wanted me."
Powers told Channel 2’s Matt Johnson said she was not allowed in the exam room Tuesday afternoon during the appointment for a scheduled cleaning.
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She said she noticed her daughter, Ava, had a nail mark underneath her chin when they got in the car after the appointment.
“Why were they not coming to get me to calm her down?” Powers asked.
A Rome police spokesman said officers were sent to the business on Redmond Road Thursday to investigate.
"At this time the complaint as being treated as part of the already ongoing investigation into this facility," Lt. Joe
Costolnick, with the Rome Police Department, said in an email.
In 2012, federal investigators raided the business as a part of an investigation into Medicaid fraud allegations.
The Georgia Dental Board eventually determined Dr. Maheshvar Patel subjected children to force and excessive restraints. Patel no longer works at the business.
An attorney for the dental business told Johnson that the staff denies any wrongdoing and that the child did well during the appointment. He pointed out no criminal charges were ever filed against his client.