Kidiatric Dental & Orthodontics makes patient safety improvements after former employee's arrest

Kidiatric Dental and Orthodontics, the employer at the center of sexual abuse allegations against a former employee, is giving an update on how it's moving forward to protect its patients.

Former employee, Deion Garcia, 27, was accused of sexual misconduct involving several children while he was working for the company.

A six-year-old victim who first sounded the alarm about the alleged abuse reportedly asked her parents if it was part of the x-ray scan for someone to touch and massage her. Her parents filed a police report, and Garcia was arrested on May 10.

Deion Garcia

On May 29, Kidiatric Dental and Orthodontics released a statement and outlined how it plans to better protect patients.

"The doctors and staff of Kidiatric Dental are shocked and deeply saddened by the allegations. The care and safety of our patients has always been Kidiatrics’ highest priority. We have always taken the highest precautions regarding patient safety, so we were truly shocked to hear this may have happened," the company said.

The company says it always encourages parents to be present with kids during dental exams and x-rays, it has 24/7 video surveillance at each location and x-ray spaces are "open and viewable."

"We regularly review video to ensure compliance with safety and patient treatment rules," the company said. "Kidiatric’s employee training is already extremely high quality – we have over 600 slides
in our training program, with tests for each level of staff."

Now, after these alleged incidents, it says several safety improvements have been made.

"We now require that a parent or adult caregiver must be with their child during x-rays," the company said.

There will also be an easier way for parents, patients or staff to report concerns, and they can be reported anonymously.

Background checks are standard when hiring new employees, but now they'll be run each year on existing employees.

Garcia was immediately terminated following the allegations, the company said.

It adds, "We remain committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and transparency by continuing to work with – and learn from – the Chandler Police Department during this ongoing investigation. Our thoughts are with those affected during this challenging time, and we thank our community for their continued support of Kidiatric Dental and Orthodontics. Kidiatric Dental and Orthodontics specializes in the best child dental and orthodontics care at its clinics in Chandler and Gilbert. Since Kidiatric opened in 2011, the staff have treated over 10,000 new patients without a single complaint to the state board. Kidiatrics is currently rated one of the three best kids dentists in Gilbert Arizona."