A Mira Mesa dentist was charged Tuesday with insurance fraud for falsifying hundreds of root canal claims to scam insurance companies out of nearly $600,000, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office said.
April Rose Ambrosio, 58, was charged with 75 felony counts of insurance fraud in connection with billing claims to eight companies for procedures she never performed, the DA's office said.
The DA said Ambrosio claimed to have performed 623 root canals on 75 patients -- which would average to more more than 8 root canals per patient -- over a three year period.
In 2016, she billed 110 root canals to one family of four over a three month period, the complaint alleges.
Each claim Ambrosio made to an insurance company exceeded $950.
Ambrosio was being investigated by the Department of Insurance and the District Attorney's Office for two years.
Ambrosio faces 83 years in prison if convicted on all 75 counts. She will next be in court on Sept. 5.
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DA Summer Stephan said insurance fraud ultimately is the burden of the consumer, who ends up paying higher insurance premiums as a result.
