Two dentists who practice together at a central Iowa clinic have been sanctioned for alleged incompetence.
In November 2025, the Iowa Dental Board charged two dentists -- Jordan Wehner and Bernard Stephenson, both of Stephenson Dental, a clinic in Nevada -- with failure to maintain a satisfactory standard of competency.
The board says both dentists were the subject of a complaint alleging a pattern of undiagnosed cavities.
A subsequent peer review study revealed concerns with each dentist’s treatment practices, including a failure to diagnose and treat cavities, insufficient prescription of radiographs, incomplete recordkeeping, and possible failure to refer patients for specialized care when indicated.
Those failures, the board alleges, resulted in some patients undergoing root canals and tooth extractions.
The board recently agreed to settle the cases against both Stephenson and Wehner. As part of the settlement agreements, Stephenson and Wehner have each agreed to have their licenses placed on probation for six months and to complete remedial educational training.
Board records indicate Wehner was issued an Iowa dental license on May 31, 2019, and Stephenson was first licensed in July 1996.
Stephenson and Wehner have not responded to calls from the Iowa Capital Dispatch since the disciplinary charges against them were first made public in December 2025.
Deputy Editor Clark Kauffman has worked during the past 30 years as both an investigative reporter and editorial writer at two of Iowa’s largest newspapers, the Des Moines Register and the Quad-City Times.
This article was originally published in the Iowa Capital Dispatch and republished by DrBicuspid under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence.
