A dentist who worked for the state of Iowa last year is facing disciplinary charges of improper, lewd, or lascivious conduct.
The Iowa Dental Board has charged dentist Paul Scot Kunch with unethical or unprofessional conduct, specifically through actions that the board deems to be abusive, coercive, intimidating, harassing, untruthful, or threatening in connection with the practice of dentistry. He is also charged with making suggestive, lewd, lascivious, or improper remarks or advances to either a patient or co-worker.
A board hearing on the disciplinary charges is scheduled for November 5, 2026.
As is customary with Iowa’s licensing boards, the Iowa Dental Board has not disclosed the underlying circumstances that gave rise to the charges except to allege that they occurred while Kunch was practicing dentistry in Fort Madison.
State employment records indicate that in 2025, Kunch was employed by the State of Iowa as a full-time dentist working at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. His salary in 2025 was $95,694.
Kunch, who was first issued an Iowa dental license in June 1991, now works at Trail Ridge Dental Care in Grimes. He did not respond to calls on Monday from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Kunch is not the only Iowa Department of Corrections dentist to have faced disciplinary charges from the board. Last year, the Iowa Dental Board reinstated the license of a Waterloo dentist convicted of being intoxicated at the state prison, where he was providing dental care for inmates.
State records show that in December 2023, Paymun Bayati was arrested at Anamosa State Penitentiary shortly after completing a root canal on a patient inmate. At the prison, Bayati submitted to a test that allegedly indicated a blood-alcohol level of 0.158 -- almost twice the legal limit for driving.
He was charged with public intoxication and was convicted in April 2024. He subsequently agreed to voluntarily surrender his license for at least one year. At trial, Bayati didn’t deny that he was intoxicated but alleged someone had “poisoned” him at work.
Hygienist accused of fraud or misrepresentation
The Iowa Dental Board has charged a central Iowa dental hygienist with collecting a fee by fraud or misrepresentation.
The board has charged dental hygienist Angela Renee Page of Ames, IA, with knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of the profession; with taking actions that were abusive, coercive, intimidating, harassing, untruthful, or threatening in the practice of dentistry; and with obtaining a fee by fraud or misrepresentation.
The board alleges the undisclosed actions contributing to the charges occurred in 2023 while Page was working in Ames. A board hearing on the disciplinary charges is scheduled for August 21, 2026.
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.
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.
