After a few visits with dentist Kent Hansen, Traci Rockwood started bringing a magazine or book to her dental appointments.
And it wasn't for reading."I would put it across my chest," so Kent Hansen couldn't touch her breasts while he treated her, Rockwood said Wednesday.
Rockwood, Salt Lake City, testified of three incidents when Kent Hansen either touched or grabbed her breasts or buttocks during dental treatment.
When asked why she kept returning, Rockwood said Kent Hansen was "very good about making financial arrangements."
Allegations against Hansen came during the third day of a weeklong hearing before the state Dentist and Dental Hygienists Board. The six-member board will determine whether Hansen and his twin brother, Brent, who have offices in Midvale and Spanish Fork, can continue practicing and prescribing drugs in Utah. Licensing charges against the pair were filed by the state in August 1989. No criminal charges have been filed against the Hansens.
Rockwood was one of three witnesses testifying of sexual misconduct by Kent Hansen.
Former dental assistant Julie King of Green River said Tuesday she saw Kent Hansen fondle the breasts of two patients who were under the influence of nitrous oxide, a gas used to relax patients. She said one of the patients was the daughter of defense attorney Jackson Howard.
"I was scrubbing instruments. It made my heart jump at his boldness," King said, noting that she often operated the nitrous oxide tanks although she was never formally trained to do so during the three months she worked for the Hansens in 1988.
Howard didn't question King about the accuracy of her testimony, but he did attack her credibility by asking if she was aware that an audit on a motel she had previously managed found $50,000 missing. King, glaring at the Hansen twins, shot back that she didn't embezzle any money and was offended by the implication. The Green River motel was owned by the Hansens when King managed it.
Another former dental assistant, Julia Blair, said she had been touched and fondled by Kent Hansen. Blair, who worked for the brothers from 1986 to 1988, said Kent Hansen brushed her breasts with his arm as they worked together in the X-ray lab.
"At first, I thought it was an accident because the room was so small," she said. "After it occurred quite a few times, I doubt it was an accident."
In another instance, Kent offered to clean Blair's teeth, and while she was in the dentist chair he rubbed his genitals against her elbow, Blair said, adding that she stopped him by saying she heard someone enter the office.
Blair said she would not have disclosed her encounters with Kent Hansen if investigators from the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing hadn't approached her. "I feel very bad . . . extremely awful for this," she said.
According to a petition filed against the Hansens by the division, the brothers also exchanged drugs for sexual favors from one patient. Testimony from that patient is scheduled for Wednesday.
In addition to descriptions of sexual misconduct, other testimony centered on the Hansens' competency. Carolyn Dominy, a former patient, said Brent Hansen started a root canal on her teeth without asking her. The root canal failed and she had the tooth extracted by another dentist. She said Brent Hansen handed her a $1,496 check after she demanded he pay for a bridge to replace the tooth.