SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Legal battles are brewing after a dentist office in Surfside Beach suddenly closed its doors in October.
Several people in the area claim they can’t get money back for procedures they paid for upfront at Dr. William Altman’s Cosmetic Dentistry and others say they’re still waiting to get their dental records. Dr. William Altman’s Facebook page has several complaints from patients.
One of those patients, Jim Turski, was in small claims court on Wednesday afternoon because he said he paid $6,000 for dental implants that weren’t finished.
“After seeing him [Dr. Altman] for about two years going through the process, the office suddenly shut down,” said Turski. “There was a credit owed back to me for work that wasn’t completed because he didn’t complete the implants.”
Turski said he started to notice Dr. Altman wasn’t around too much towards late fall 2017.
“When I was making my monthly check ups, it kinda got a little shady in there,” said Turski. “He wasn’t there a lot. There were visiting dentists from different offices filling in for him. One of the dentists, when he saw my X-rays, he referred me to an oral surgeon because it was beyond the scope that he could provide a service for.”
News13 obtained an email sent to patients on October 31, 2017 which said, “Due to health issues with Dr. Altman it is unfortunate that our office will be permanently closing.” It went on to say the office would send records to a dentist of choice or patients could request records by calling the office.
Turski tried calling the office several times and eventually could only get a voicemail that had been set up.
“I never received a return phone call so I decided to take him to small claims,” said Turski.
Dr. Altman and his business, Cosmetic Dentistry, were named as defendants and did not show up to court on Wednesday. The judge ordered Dr. Altman to pay Turski over $2,000.
“It’s more of a principal for me that he owes so many people money,” said Turski after the hearing. “At least having the judgment, I don’t know if he’s going to pay on the judgment or not, but at least I was successful today.”
Another patient, Jeff Montgomery, said he believes Dr. Altman owes him about $1,000 for incomplete dental work. Montgomery said he went to Dr. Altman in July 2017 to get an implant and crown and paid $2,000 upfront.
“They gave me the implant and you have to wait about three or four months to get the crown,” he explained. “When I called back in the end of October to set up the appointment for the crown he had gotten sick and they were closing the office up.”
Montgomery said he tried to contact the office several different times and was eventually told to contact the CPA.
“The lady sent me a CPA’s address to get my money back but it had no name on it, just a P.O. Box,” he said. “So I wrote a letter and sent it and never heard anything back.”
News13 left a voicemail at Dr. Altman’s Surfside Beach office and called another office he owns in Darlington, though a receptionist said he is fully retired and no longer practicing. No calls have been returned.
News13 also found out several patients, including Turski, have contacted attorney, Dr. Olivia Palmer. She is an attorney and dentist who represents victims of malpractice and personal injuries.
Dr. Palmer said she is investigating about twenty allegations of medical malpractice against Dr. Altman.
News13 will continue to closely follow this story.
