Howard Schneider: The Nightmare Dentist of Jacksonville

Note:

This entry is not about the Howard Schneider from Long Island who was mistaken for the one who will be covered here. While this blog does not condone abuse sent towards anyone it might cover, please take this as a reminder to always check facts before reacting in any way.

Very few people enjoy their trip to the dentist. Whether it's the fear of a painful procedure, a condescending doctor criticizing your oral hygiene, or the worry that they'll discover a severe problem that requires a painful procedure in the future, the fear of going to the dentist is one that is very well earned. Even Hollywood has helped fuel this fear in the past with dentists often portrayed as sadistic individuals or the idea that every exam is doomed to be an agonizing ordeal.

Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

So when it turns out that your dentist is in fact an actual monster, that alone can be the stuff of nightmares. But when that monster is also a pediatric dentist, it becomes exponentially worse. Children depend on their parents to keep them safe, to chase away the monsters in the closet and warn them about strangers with candy. So when the danger lies in the hands of someone who is supposed to be a trusted professional, the best way to fight back is to speak out. This would lead to the ultimate downfall of pediatric dentist, Howard Schneider of Jacksonville, Florida.

For several decades, Howard Schneider practiced dentistry on children. He was the only dentist in the area who accepted medicaid and this attracted many low-income families to his practice. Allegations of malpractice starts as early as 1995, though those cases were dropped and the details aren't currently available as of writing this. However, nearly a decade later, one parent would spark enough outrage that finally drew full attention to the sadistic dentist.

In 2014, Brandi Motley brought in her 6-year-old daughter Bri'el for a tooth extraction. Bri'el was taken into the office while her mother had to sit in the waiting room during the procedure. However, when 3 hours passed and she was still not allowed in the room to see her daughter, it became clear something wasn't right. That's when one of the nursing assistants came to fetch her, informing her that there had been an accident.

When Motley was brought into the room, she was greeted with the horrifying scene of her daughter lying face-down on the ground, hyperventilating, and her blood all over the floor. The nurse told her that Bri'el had been on a papoose board, left alone for only a few minutes, and that when they returned they had found her on the floor. But according to Motley, her daughter had bruises and scratches on her body, and her mouth had been packed with bloody gauze. That was when she pulled her daughter immediately out of the office and into her car.

The scene had been enough to make Motley justifiably suspicious, but when Bri'el took the gauze out of her mouth, her worst fears were confirmed. Bri'el told her mother that Schnieder and his nurse had lied and that he had been choking her while pulling out her teeth. Motley then noticed that even though Bri'el had only been scheduled for one extraction, Schneider had instead pulled out eight of her front teeth, prompting the mother to take her daughter straight to the ER. Further examination showed that Bri'el also had a fractured nose, eye, and a bruised hand print on her neck.

Motley attempted to sue the dentist for malpractice, but the lawyer she met with, John Phillips, refused to take the case, informing her it would be nothing more than a case of he-said-she-said that she couldn't win. This did not stop her from trying to expose Schneider, so in April of 2015, Motley took to Facebook, posting the photos taken of her daughter after the procedure, as well as her account as to what happened that day.

The post went viral and soon other angered parents began speaking out about their own experiences. This led to a wave of horror stories being made public, triggering protesters to picket outside of Schneider's office as well as some much-warranted attention from the media.

Possibly the most disturbing piece of evidence to be leaked, was a video that was secretly filmed by a mother named Sherraine Christopher, who had taken her 3-year-old son, Zion, for an appointment. During this visit, Schneider ground down 16 of the toddler's teeth to be fitted for crowns (a procedure the child allegedly did not need) without using painkillers or anesthetic of any kind, nor offering an explanation to the concerned mother. In the video, Zion is seen already strapped down, screaming and kicking while Schneider and the nurse proceed, ignoring the boy's agony.

The video is still available to be seen on YouTube, but viewer discretion is advised as it is disturbing to watch.

With the evidence and outrage mounting, Schneider finally closed the doors to his practice, voluntarily surrendered his medical license, and lawyer John Phillips, who had initially refused to take on the case for Bri'el, had a change of heart and took up a total of 131 individual cases from families against Schneider. At least 104 of those cases were settled while Schneider refused any admission of wrongdoing.

Even though turning over his license spared him from a full investigation from the medical board, Schneider was not able to escape a criminal investigation entirely. In November of 2015, Schneider was arrested and charged with 11 counts of Medicaid provider fraud, alleging that he had collected over $4 million in payments from the government in five years alone. He plead not guilty and was examined by medical professionals who deemed him incompetent to stand trial. They stated he was likely suffering dementia at the time and in 2018, the State Attorney's Office dropped all criminal charges due to his deteriorating mental condition.

While there are still many who feel the former dentist should have faced time in prison for the damage he caused on so many children, Jacksonville parents can at least take comfort in the knowledge that Howard Schneider will not be operating on their children ever again.

Sources:

• ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dentist-accused-harming-child-patients-making-millions-dollars/story?id=36528657
• Lawyer John Phillips' Official Site: https://floridajustice.com/dentist-howard-s-schneider-update-happened-incompetency-hearing/
• Action News Jax: https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/charges-dropped-against-jacksonville-pediatric-dentist-accused-of-mistreatment/708443763