A local woman is distraught, one day after learning her orthodontist was arrested on charges of practicing without a license.
State regulators raided the dental office of Severo Rivera in Earlimart Monday.
Dirty equipment, wads of cash and a receipt book written on notebook paper, that's how authorities say 3 people ran a dental operation out of this Earlimart house.
"The couch with the hole, there's a little TV, no cable. There's a goat outside," said dental patient Itxel Lopez.
"And there's an AC with a big ol hole. He growls at you," said Orthodontic Patient Mayra Valdez.
Mayra Valdez and Itxel Lopez say they suspected something wasn't quite right with their dentist, 51-year-old Severo Rivera.
They both doubted if he was licensed in the U.S. to install metal braces in their mouths.
"This last one over here (points to bracett on tooth) I can move it, I can make it go around in circles. It's like their glue didn't stick, you'd feel the glue going boing," said Lopez.
Authorities arrested Rivera and his two female dental assistants Monday for practicing dentistry without a license.
Now former patients are left wondering what to do.
"He would use like the same little stick to put rubber bands on the four of us, so we don't know if he would cleaned it or he used it on other people," said Valdez.
Lopez said she doesn't really feel taken advantage of: she and others were looking for cheap treatment.
"I think most of the people that went there either didn't have insurance or They were short on cash. Since it was less, I don't think he was trying to take advantage of people, if anything trying to help out people who don't have money," added Lopez.
But the state doesn't see it that way.
"In fact, it's not that much cheaper than going to a license, sanitized office," said Nancy Butler with The Dental Board of California.
State regulators say the Myra and Itxel have two options: apply for DentiCal if they have no insurance or see if another orthodontist in town will pickup their treatment.
"What are we going to do. For how long do I have to keep them on or should I pop them off myself?" concluded Lopez.
