A woman accused of providing dental services without a license and taking thousands of dollars from patients was arrested Friday by Raleigh police.
Ebony Nicohole McBean, 42, is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
McBean was served a warrant, originally issued in November 2025, on Friday and arrested on one count of practicing medicine without a license and three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. It is unclear why police arrested McBean three months after the warrant was issued.
McBean was recently the focus of a WRAL News story about patients who spent thousands to get braces from her business, The Smiling Face Company, but were unable to get answers to questions about refunds, future services and patient records.
In one case, according to the warrant, McBean provided $5,820 worth of fraudulent dental services to put braces on the victim’s teeth, even though she was not a registered dentist and represented herself as one.
The same was the case for Nichelle Boone, who had $4,250 for braces services.
“I asked for treatment records several times, I asked for them by email, I asked for them by text. I never got my treatment records,” Nichelle Boone told WRAL News in November. “I still haven’t received any kind of proof of payment.”
In the case of Shayla Gist, who WRAL News has spoken to about this company, McBean allegedly took $4,000 from Gist after she put braces on her son’s teeth.
WRAL News spoke with Gist after learning of McBean’s arrest, in which she said she’s glad McBean was caught.
“It was so discouraging from the beginning, but I’m a praying woman and I left it up to God,” Gist told WRAL News on Saturday. “I said as he sees fit he will go, and then I got this phone call from you letting me know he was arrested. My faith will get me through all of this.”
Gist said other board-certified orthodontists told her she would need another $3,000 to continue her son’s treatment, on top of the $4,000 she lost to McBean.
Gist said her son has been in pain from his braces for the past three months, so much so that he no longer wants them.
“It was stressful for him, it was stressful for me trying to encourage him that we’re going to get through it all,” Gist explained. “I feel like when I pay the $4,000, I shouldn’t be talking about braces anymore. It should be time for them to come off, but instead I’m going to pay another $3,000 to go ahead and he’s going to have these braces for another two years.”
Gist said she will go to the authorities to try to get her money back from McBean’s practice. He added that he has yet to hear from McBean.
In all three cases, McBean allegedly told her victims that she worked under Dr. Ramsey, whom she said she would consult about the installation and maintenance of orthodontic work on all of her patients.
Arrest warrants state that McBean is not related to Ramsey in any way.
WRAL News reported that Dr. Darren Ramsey was the listed provider on the invoices and as the company’s dental director. However, Ramsey’s leave was in probationary statusaccording to the council portal.
Documents from the licensing board say it allowed unlicensed people to provide services and did not maintain patient records at another business in Charlotte.
“I never saw that Dr. Ramsay [Grady] I had mentioned during my initial consultation,” Boone also recalled in a separate interview.
Throughout their treatment, all of the patients who spoke to WRAL News said McBean was the person who fitted their braces and made adjustments throughout the process. However, a search for her name on the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners portal returned no results.
On YelpMcBean boasted a 15-year career as an orthodontist’s assistant.
North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners CEO Bobby White said the lack of results likely means he does not have a dental license.
After the company faced scrutiny from its patients, Smiling Face closed its doors in October—just one day after notifying patients. Warrants were issued for McBean’s arrest on November 12, 2025, but she was not arrested until Friday.
McBean posted a $3,000 bond around 6 a.m. Saturday morning. He is scheduled to appear in court on those charges at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
This offense comes nearly a full year after the State Board of Dental Examiners issued a warning to the public about an alarming trend of people posing as dentists performing shoddy work that would later cost a lot of money to fix.
