Elderly woman says gold dental work stolen by dentist

A 94-year-old Sandy Springs woman said a dentist at a local dental implant office stole from her and what he took came right out of her mouth.

Gladys Petti said a dentist at Clearchoice Implants at the Piedmont Center in Buckhead removed a gold bar from her mouth when he was making her old dentures permanent.

"My granddaughter reminded me that I had a gold bar and I said 'Well, I don't know where it is because it's not in my mouth,'" Petti told Channel 2's Sophia Choi.

Petti also said the work done in November 2010 was sub-par. She said the denture broke just a year later. She's suing for $100,000.

Petti's new dentist, Dr. Marc Moskowitz of the Georgia Center on Johnson Ferry Road, said it's highly unusual for dental offices to keep that amount of gold.

"I would guess it was about an ounce or so and that kind of gold belongs back to the patient," said Moskowitz.

Clearchoice said in a statement: "Patient care and satisfaction are our No. 1 priority, that is why we are Atlanta's leader in implant dentistry with more than 1,000 satisfied patients.

"Because of our ongoing commitment to our patients, we have been proactively and diligently trying to resolve Ms. Petti's concerns for months – including multiple correspondences with her former and current attorneys and offering her a full refund.

"Our offer still stands, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue with Ms. Petti to resolve this matter as expeditiously as possible.

"But Ms. Petti says what they're offering isn't good enough, and she's negotiating for more than the $9,300 she paid for the work. She also says the company offered to return her gold bar, but she's not interested because after two years she's not sure it's actually hers."