Local dentists have had their licenses suspended in Pennsylvania as part of an investigation into health code violations.
The Pennsylvania Dental Board is now urging patients to get checked for hepatitis and HIV.
The Pennsylvania Heath Department's investigation of a clinic run by Dr. Jana Osmolinski and Dr. Eric Osmolinski indicates investigators found dead mice and insects in the same space used to sterilize equipment.
They also found expired drugs.
State records indicate Eric and Jana Osmolinski were licensed to operate in California in 2012.
La Jolla Family Dentistry on Draper Avenue was closed Tuesday night. NBC 7 spoke to a patient who gave the practice high marks.
“Excellent. Nothing but the best,” said Ronni Franz, adding she had been a patient at the clinic for at least two years.
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NBC 7 also learned that the Osmolinski have licenses in good standing in California.
But it is the couple's Center for Family and Specialty Dentistry in Reading, Pennsylvania that's under investigation.
NBC 7's sister station in Philadelphia covered the story.
They were told by investigators that at least two dead mice, insects and flies were found on the floor in the basement where the tools were cleaned.
"There were serious infection control violations, enough to make us concerned," said April Hutcheson, a spokesperson for the PA Department of Health.
Conditions were such that patient safety was seriously compromised, the health department wrote in its report.
The Pennsylvania Department of Dentistry Licensing Website indicates the licenses of both doctors are temporarily suspended in that state.
“Completely blown away. I would never in a million years think that there would be anything wrong with her instruments or anything in that place in particular,” Franz told NBC 7.
The criticism of the Pennsylvania clinic appears in stark contrast to the affluent setting of La Jolla.
The Osmolinski's lawyers told NBC Philadelphia that he has not been notified of any infections of serious problems by his patients. He also said the Osmolinski's managed the Reading office from California and flew there twice a month.
