Pediatric Dentist Charged With Working on Child While Drunk

A Texas dental visit for an 8-year-old boy reportedly ended with the dentist in handcuffs, People reports. Police in Sherman say 36-year-old Dr. Kelly Buck was performing a filling and crown procedure on the child on Feb. 16 when a dental technician suspected she was intoxicated and halted the work mid-procedure, prompting the boy's father to call 911. Officers say Buck showed signs of impairment, failed a field sobriety test, and was arrested at Pediatric Dentistry of Sherman, KXII reports. She reportedly is not an employee of the office, and was working there in a temporary staffing capacity at the time.

Buck is charged under a Texas law that makes performing surgery while intoxicated a state jail felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Police say she had already treated one patient before they arrived; authorities later obtained a warrant for a blood sample, the results of which are pending. Buck, licensed since 2016 with no public disciplinary history, denies the allegation. "Mrs. Buck is not guilty of the charges she was arrested for," her attorney said, adding that she expects blood tests to show no drugs or alcohol in her system. Buck told WFAA she offered to take a breath test but said officers declined; she called the accusations "absurd." She was released on a $10,000 bond.