The Iowa Dental Board has canceled a scheduled disciplinary hearing for a dentist who is alleged to have contributed to a patient's death.
The board has also pulled from its website a previously published description of the alleged wrongdoing that led to the death.
In September 2024, the board notified dentist Robert Wolf of Swisher, IA, that it intended to deny his application for a permit to use moderate sedation on patients. At the time, the board alleged that on January 26, 2024, Wolf had participated in dental surgery on a patient who suffered a medical emergency in the office and subsequently died.
The board alleged that Wolf was the only dentist in the operating room while an advanced registered nurse practitioner administered and monitored anesthesia.
"During the procedure, (Wolf) facilitated the practice of an unlicensed dentist and supervised the administration of anesthesia without having the proper credentials," the board alleged.
One week after the death, Wolf filed his application for a permit to use moderate sedation on patients. After the board sent Wolf a "preliminary notice" announcing its intent to deny the application, Wolf indicated he intended to pursue the matter, and a hearing before the board was scheduled for this month.
Wolf subsequently withdrew his application, and in March, the board issued an order canceling the planned hearing. In recent weeks, however, the board pulled from its website the September 2024 "preliminary notice" of its intent to deny the permit application, leaving no public filings in the case.
After the Iowa Capital Dispatch inquired about the missing documents, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing uploaded a November 2024 notice to deny Wolf's permit application, as well as the March 2025 order canceling the planned hearing.
Neither of those documents includes any mention of a patient death or the alleged role Wolf played in that case.
Other dentist sanctioned by emergency order
Wolf is the second Iowa dentist to have faced board action as a result of the January 26, 2024, procedure.
Last fall, nine months after the patient died, the board issued an emergency order restricting the practice of Dr. Jonathan Karch of the Dental Studio of Iowa in Johnston. The board alleged that Karch participated in the procedure and that an investigation revealed Karch "did not stay in the operatory for the duration of the procedure."
In issuing the emergency order, the board said it "recognizes (Karch) as an imminent threat to public safety" and that he "should not be permitted to participate in procedures involving sedation until further order." Karch's license to practice dentistry has remained otherwise unrestricted.
The status of the disciplinary case against Karch is unknown. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for October 11, 2024, but a final decision in the matter has yet to be published by the board, and there's no published notice of the hearing being rescheduled.
Separate from the licensing board actions, a civil lawsuit has been filed against Karch, Wolf, and others involved in the surgery, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court by the family of Joseph Daniels, alleges that on January 26, 2024, after Daniels received dental implants from Karch, patient care was turned over to a certified registered nurse anesthetist who was tasked with waking Daniels and initiating the recovery process.
The lawsuit alleges that at 3:30 p.m., a dental assistant notified Karch and Wolf they were needed in the surgical suite via a message that stated "Joe is not doing well -- please come immediately."
According to EMS medical records, paramedics were dispatched to Dental Studio of Iowa at 3:35 p.m. with a report of an "unconscious person." Within 25 minutes of their arrival and the administration of drugs, the paramedics had intubated Daniels, and by 4:27 p.m., they had initiated chest compressions, the lawsuit claims. Daniels was then taken to Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where he died at 5:51 p.m.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages for negligence. In their response to the lawsuit, lawyers for the defendants argue that Daniels caused his own death, which they say stemmed from preexisting conditions.
A trial is scheduled for September 28, 2026.
This article was originally published in the Iowa Capital Dispatch and republished by DrBicuspid under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence.
Editor Clark Kauffman has worked during the past 30 years as both an investigative reporter and editorial writer at two of Iowa’s largest newspapers, the Des Moines Register and the Quad-City Times.
