Women sentenced for unlicensed dentistry

NORRISTOWN Two Broomall women who performed procedures on patients at a Bryn Mawr office while posing as a dentist and dental assistant have been sentenced to jail.

Montgomery County Court Judge William J. Furber Jr. on Monday imposed two- to 23-month terms on Cheryl A. Laing and Jessica Gullickson, along with four years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

He fined each $1,000 and ordered them to pay $5,100 in restitution to four patients, said Assistant District Attorney John Gradel.

The two women pleaded guilty in July to misdemeanor counts of theft by deception, recklessly endangering another person, and unauthorized practice of dentistry.

By day, Laing, 46, was a dental assistant and Gullickson, 25, a receptionist at a legitimate practice, Smilz 4 Life, on Old Lancaster Road near Bryn Mawr Hospital in Lower Merion Township, according to the District Attorney's Office.

But after hours between 2010 and 2012, authorities said, Laing portrayed herself as a licensed dentist, with Gullickson serving as her assistant. Laing spread the word that she could do procedures, including root canal and tooth extraction, at cheap prices.

Neither was legally permitted to perform the procedures.

The practice's real dentist didn't know what was going on in his office after he left for the day.

Gullickson's attorney, David B. Mischak, said she "has lived her life as a law-abiding citizen.

"Her reputation is that of a kind, caring and self-less citizen … Fortunately, the court strongly considered Ms. Gullickson's good deeds as well as her strong character and fashioned a sentence which will permit her to maintain her employment and very soon have complete liberty so that she may continue to be a very positive contributor to our society," Mischak said.

Prosecutor Gradel said it was "an excellent sentence."

"The judge made it clear that you can't hold yourself out to be a medical professional when you don't have the training, license, experience, and education to do it," he said. "There's too much at stake."