What was sold as “teeth in a day” turned into years of pain, broken dentures and, in one case, a desperate reach for Gorilla Glue, according to a growing stack of complaints against suburban implant specialist Dr. Paul Petrungaro.
Several Chicago-area patients say they paid tens of thousands of dollars for full-mouth implant work and never got the permanent teeth they were promised. Instead, they describe cycling through flimsy temporary dentures that cracked, fell apart, and made it hard to eat or work. Their stories have sparked criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and new questions about why state regulators did not act sooner, even as warnings piled up. The saga drew wider attention after a local TV investigation pulled together years of patient records and state disciplinary files.
Jenny, a cancer survivor who began treatment with Petrungaro in 2021, says she paid between $35,000 and $40,000 for a full-mouth reconstruction that never got past the temporary phase. She told FOX 32 Chicago that the makeshift teeth repeatedly broke and hurt so much that, at times, she reached for “superglue, Gorilla Glue” just to keep them in.
Other former patients echo the same pattern. One man says he paid $28,000 and spent more than a year waiting for permanents that never arrived, all while shuttling through temporary sets that kept failing. Several have filed complaints with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and at least some have hired attorneys to pursue malpractice and other civil claims.
State Discipline Stretches Back A Decade
Regulatory records show that trouble did not appear overnight. For years, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has cited Petrungaro for issues that include fines, suspensions and a consent order. The agency ultimately moved his dental license to permanent inactive status effective Jan. 21, 2025.
Public summaries from the state and industry coverage note earlier suspensions and allegations of billing irregularities, substandard care and failure to provide records. According to Becker's Dental, the permanent inactivation followed years of probationary measures and a 2023 suspension, and a disciplinary order from the Minnesota Board of Dentistry details earlier action in that state as well.
Criminal Charges And A Wrongful Death Suit
The stakes have now shifted from professional sanctions to potential prison time. Petrungaro was arrested Jan. 13, 2026, by a DuPage County sheriff’s detective working with the Illinois Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on allegations that include practicing dentistry without a valid Illinois license, according to FOX 32 Chicago.
He has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and is also facing civil litigation, including a wrongful death lawsuit tied to the October 2022 death of patient Margaret Rajkiewicz. That suit alleges excessive anesthesia and delayed emergency care. As FOX 32 Chicago notes, those claims remain part of ongoing litigation and have not been adjudicated.
Where The Office Was And What Patients Are Told To Do
The implant practice where several patients say they were treated operated under the name Start Smiling and has been listed at 1S660 Midwest Rd., Suite 205, in Oakbrook Terrace. Patients navigating the fallout have been advised to gather and preserve receipts, X-rays, scans and any correspondence tied to their care, and to file formal complaints with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation or the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Some have also turned to private attorneys for help. A local business directory entry for the office appears on MapQuest.
For those left with unfinished mouths and mounting bills, the impact is far from cosmetic. Patients describe lost wages, chronic pain and the daunting cost of starting over with new providers. With criminal and civil cases moving ahead and regulators saying they are reviewing allegations of continued practice, the outcome will test how well the system protects people who pay upfront for complex dental work that can quite literally make or break their ability to smile, speak and eat.
