(Anchorage, AK) – Friday morning, the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the 2022 Alaska Superior Court’s decision that the Board of Dental Examiners properly exercised its discretion when revoking the license of Dr. Seth Lookhart after he engaged in pervasive fraud and almost killed several patients. In 2016, Lookhart’s video of himself performing a tooth extraction while on a Hoverboard went viral, generating national and international headlines.

“This case involved the most widespread misconduct of any licensing matter in recent memory, if not ever, in Alaska. We’re pleased that Dr. Lookhart will no longer be able to exploit vulnerable patients for his personal gain,” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.

Today, the Court agreed with the State on every issue, finding that Lookhart’s “astonishing range of misconduct” was based on “a fraudulent scheme of staggering proportions that jeopardized the health and safety of his patients.”

In the end, this case was straightforward. While practicing as a dentist, Dr. Lookhart stole over a million dollars from Alaska’s Medicaid program and his colleagues. As part of the scheme, he gave patients dangerous sedation medication and committed dozens of standard of care violations.

As the Court’s decision explains: “On two occasions, Lookhart’s patients nearly lost their lives as a direct consequence of his reckless sedation practices: One displayed vital signs ‘inconsistent with signs of life,’ while another’s heart rate dropped to 19 beats per minute. Lookhart also extracted one deeply sedated patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard, and then sent a video of the unsafe extraction to his friends and family members without the patient’s consent.”

“Between May 2016 and March 2017, Lookhart systematically and unnecessarily sedated his patients in a manner that allowed him to fraudulently bill the maximum amount covered by Alaska’s Medicaid program, overcharging Medicaid by more than $1.6 million. Lookhart routinely billed Medicaid for sedation that was not performed, billed Medicaid at higher rates than other insurers, and created false dates of service to maximize his wrongful reimbursements. During this same period Lookhart also stole an additional $412,500 from a business partner.”

The Supreme Court ultimately affirmed the revocation of Lookhart’s license.

Assistant Attorney General Rob Kutchin with the Alaska Department of Law’s Opinions, Appeals, and Ethics Section worked the Alaska Supreme Court appeal. Former AAG Joan Wilson and Senior Assistant Attorney General Harriet Dinegar worked on earlier parts of the case.

Lookhart’s criminal case is currently before the Alaska Court of Appeals. After a six-week bench trial ending in January 2020, he was convicted on 46 charges, including 11 felony counts of medical assistance fraud, three felony counts of scheming to defraud, one count of felony theft, three class A misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, one class B misdemeanor count of failure to meet minimal standards of dentistry, and 27 additional misdemeanors. The trial court also issued an order finding that the State had proven 13 sentencing aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court found that the evidence against Lookhart was “overwhelming.”  He was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison with eight years suspended, according to the ruling.

• Seth Lookhart v. State of Alaska, Division of Corporations Opinion – 258KB PDF

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  dentist, fraud, hoverboard, license, lookhart, medicaid