SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah agency that regulates health professionals has taken the first step toward revoking the license of a dentist who is on the sex offender registry.
The dentist, Thomas A. Endicott, has already been suspended in three other states, FOX 13 reported in November. He will have an opportunity to respond to the notice he received from the Utah Division of Professional Licensing, or DOPL.
The notice accuses Endicott of not telling DOPL about a 2018 arrest in Arizona for failing to register as a sex offender. That arrest triggered an investigation at the Arizona Board of Dental Examiners, which Endicott also did not disclose when he went to renew his license in Utah, according to the notice.
The last paragraph of allegations points out an Endicott patient in Arizona died in 2021. Endicott agreed to a temporary suspension of his license in Arizona after the death. Endicott is contesting an effort to suspend him there permanently.
Endicott and his Arizona attorney did not respond to FOX 13 interview requests. Representatives of DOPL declined an interview request.
On Thursday, a DOPL website still listed Endicott’s licenses to practice dentistry and to prescribe narcotics as both as “active.”
FOX 13’s Scripps News partners, ABC 15 in Phoenix, began investigating Endicott after the death of the 72-year-old patient whom Endicott had given anesthesia.
But ABC 15 discovered Endicott’s history with regulators goes back to 2005, when he was convicted in Michigan for healthcare fraud and drug distribution. Also that year, Endicott pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex offense when a female employee said he pinched her on the butt.
Now he’s a registered sex offender because of that charge.
Endicott lost his dental license in Michigan and Illinois, where he was also licensed, because of those criminal convictions.
Then in 2012, Endicott sought a license in Arizona.
“I've paid all my debts to society,” Endicott told the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners, according to audio of the hearing, “And I've lived out here and I'd like to start a new life and begin again."
The board granted him a license in Arizona.
Then in 2016, Endicott received a license in Utah. Records show he informed DOPL, about his criminal history and suspensions in the Midwest. The latest notice, though, says he didn’t tell DOPL about the 2018 arrest when he renewed his Utah license sometime later.
A DOPL spokeswoman told FOX 13 in November it would investigate whether the patient death in Arizona violated Utah standards of care.
In a 2022 meeting of the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners, Endicott’s attorney, David Williams, called the patient's death, from what documents have described as a cardiac episode, “an unfortunate event.”
“It’s our position,” Williams said, “Dr. Endicott appropriately managed the patient’s care and treatment as he tried to walk through an emergent situation.”
DOPL will post online some information about the discipline it issues professionals, but Endicott has never been disciplined in Utah. DOPL doesn’t post a license holder’s history with other states.
