A 63-year-old Severna Park man has pleaded guilty to practicing dentistry without a license, the state attorney general's office announced yesterday.

The action came after a patient complained that John Martin of the 200 block of Stouffer Court extracted five teeth from her and sent her home bleeding so profusely she almost passed out while driving. It was the second time in three years Martin was convicted of practicing without a license.

Anne Arundel County Administrative Judge James W. Dryden sentenced Martin to 12 months in jail Friday, with two months suspended. Dryden recommended Martin serve his sentence via work release.

Martin's license was revoked in 1993 after he violated terms of his probation from a 1983 insurance fraud conviction. He pleaded guilty to practicing without a license in District Court in 1996 and received a suspended sentence and three years' probation.

The Board of Dental Examiners received the complaint about the tooth extraction in September 1997, said Frank Mann, special assistant to the attorney general.

Working out of his office at home, Martin had extracted five teeth from a patient -- whom Mann would not name -- June 13, 1997. He had been prescribing painkillers for the patient for four months before deciding she needed to have her teeth extracted.

"He gave her seven injections of Novocain, and when she complained of pain, he injected her five more times," Mann said. "Instead of trying to stop the bleeding, he attempted to place dentures on her and sent her home. She continued to bleed for three more hours after driving home."

Dryden placed Martin on three years' probation on the conditions that he reimburse the patient $550 within six months, dispose of all his dental equipment within 120 days and stop practicing dentistry without a license.

Mann said Martin was taken into custody after the hearing Friday.

Pub Date: 3/31/99