Dentist accused of performing jail root canal while drunk

Amid allegations of a root canal performed on a state inmate while allegedly under the influence of alcohol, 58-year-old Waterloo-based dentist Paymun Bayati has had his license suspended by Iowa state regulators. Iowa Capital Dispatch reported on Thursday.

The Iowa Board of Dentistry charged Bayati with practicing dentistry in a manner that harms the public and violating Iowa dental practice regulations. Prompted by concerns about an “imminent threat” to public welfare, the board issued an emergency suspension of Bayati’s license. Specific details about the conduct that led to those charges remain unknown, pending a 2022 Iowa Supreme Court ruling, according to the report.

On December 7, 2023, an Anamosa police officer responded to reports of a disabled person trying to remove himself from the Anamosa State Penitentiary, as described by the Iowa Capital Dispatch. The nurses had reportedly alerted the guard to Bayati’s apparent intoxication after a root canal. Bayati, who advised that his work at the prison was over, allegedly tried to walk away but was said to have been stopped by the warden and deputy warden.

The officer, claiming to have observed Bayati with slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol, conducted a vehicle search in the parking lot. According to information, an empty bottle with the smell of alcohol was found.

“He let me search his vehicle in the parking lot, where I located an empty bottle that smelled of an alcoholic beverage,” the officer said in the report.

Bayati was then allegedly tested, revealing a blood-alcohol level of 0.158, nearly twice the legal driving limit, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Charged with misdemeanor public intoxication, Bayati claimed he did not consume alcohol. Instead, he claimed that someone, either a stranger or a dental assistant, had tampered with his coffee by adding isopropyl alcohol.

“I feel like someone slipped something in my drink,” he said, according to the news agency.

The Iowa Capital Dispatch added that Bayati described the level of alcohol in his system as “equal to 11 shots of alcohol consumed in the hour before his scheduled departure.”

“Eleven shots, which means I was tending to a patient’s tooth with one hand and hitting hard with the other,” Bayati continued.

In response to the allegations, Bayati denied trying to leave the jail, saying the bottle in his car had been accidentally left as camping gear, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. A criminal trial set for Feb. 21 is looming pending a rescheduled board hearing on disciplinary charges. According to the report, Bayati argued that the council’s charges were directly related to his arrest.

State records cited in the report show Bayati obtained a dental license in Iowa in August 1999. In 2022, the board charged him with incompetence in dental implant procedures, linked to his Sioux City practice, but allegedly associated with his time at Waterloo.

The board’s decision, influenced by a patient complaint, concerned Bayati’s placement of four implants. A consultant’s assessment reportedly concluded that he fell below the minimum standard of care for the procedure. As detailed by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the board issued an order prohibiting Bayati from performing such procedures on patients.

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