Former employees are suing the Michigan dental practice where they worked, claiming they were fired after raising concerns about dangerous, unnecessary procedures and fraudulent billing, according to a story published on March 25 on mlive.com.
Gina Bailey and Bethany Thierbach filed a lawsuit on March 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against OmniSmiles in Mt. Morris, MI, where they were employed. They claim OmniSmiles fired them after they sounded the alarm about improper dental procedures, misrepresentations to Medicare and Medicaid about which clinicians performed services, and billing the U.S. programs for procedures that needed preapprovals before they were given the green light, according to the story.
Thierbach and Bailey are seeking back pay and punitive and compensatory damages.
The women allege that Dr. Travis Haddad brushed off their concerns and ultimately fired them.
Bailey and Thierbach claim they had access to the practice’s billing records and saw that all services were billed as if Haddad had done them, though they were done by others. Additionally, the women said another staff member, who was not identified in the lawsuit, performed expensive, medically unnecessary procedures on new patients, most often children, “as a matter of course,” according to the story.
In May 2025, Haddad allegedly told Bailey that he cut the wrong tooth of a patient while placing a dental crown. The dentist allegedly told Bailey that he would place a second crown, bill for both procedures, and not inform Delta Dental, a benefits administrator for Medicare and Medicaid, about the mistake, according to the story.
Furthermore, the women claim they told Haddad on multiple occasions that such practices were illegal.
On December 3, 2025, Haddad fired Bailey and Thierbach. The termination occurred after Bailey confronted Haddad about the date of a procedure that was falsified to appear compliant with Delta Dental’s preapproval requirements. Thierbach reportedly told Haddad that she believed patient charts were being altered so that Medicaid could be billed for larger amounts, according to the story.
