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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Many Wright Dentures and Implants patients are increasingly frustrated with the lack of communication since the office suddenly closed about two weeks ago.
FOX4 has talked with many patients in the last two weeks. Many said the issues with Wright Dentures and Implants started well before the closure.
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“I’m 47 years old, and yet, aging 20 years overnight just because I don’t have teeth and you know, the anxiety, just the anxiety, not smiling in public, not being able to go out to eat with my family, becoming a recluse and just very down on myself,” said Jammie Barnes a former Wright Dentures and Implants patient. “The depression that set in because of what he did to me.”
Like many other people we’ve talked to in the last two weeks, Jammie Barnes was a patient at Wright Dentures and Implants for nine months. Barnes says that after Dr. Brian Jenkins removed her teeth, she ran into a number of issues with the dental office, including dentures that didn’t fit properly.
“They kept telling me every time I would go in, ‘you just needed to try,’ and I kept telling her I can’t close my lips over these dentures,” Barnes explained. “This is not working. I cannot wear these. I can’t talk with them. I can’t eat with them. I can’t swallow, and she kept telling me, you need to press your lips harder.”
Since the closure, patients have not heard a word from Wright Dentures and Implants. The office phone goes unanswered, and no one is there.
Many tell us they spent thousands of dollars on dental work that has yet to be finished.
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“There seems to be a consistent theme of the inability of people to communicate with Dr. Jenkins and for him to actually be active in their case and make sure to resolve the issues they’re complaining about,” said Attorney Paemon Aramjoo. “So it’s not surprising to hear that doors were shut in the manner that they were.”
One patient who went to the office Tuesday told FOX4 that the clinic’s doors were unlocked, raising concerns about the security of medical records.
According to a spokesperson with the Independence Police Department: “We did respond to a building check at this location. There were no signs of forced entry and contact was tried with the last listing night call information. These phone calls went unanswered during that incident. It does appear that officers may have been able to secure the building again prior to clearing the call for service. “
Dr. Brian Jenkins runs the office in Independence– Jenkins has been sued multiple times in the past four years for allegations of personal injury and malpractice.
Three cases are ongoing against Jenkins; one is set for trial next year, and the other cases have been dismissed.
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“I generally have a disposition that’s not fully comfortable speaking to media about cases of this nature, but I think there are many cases where we, as attorneys and clients, have a responsibility to make people aware of issues so that other people don’t have to go through what they’re having to go through,” Aramjoo said.
The Missouri Dental Board will take complaints and reports from patients of the clinic.