Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on May 1 that his office has sent the first round of refund checks to consumers affected by Woodbury Dental Arts, a now-closed dental clinic formerly owned and operated by Marko Kamel. The refunds follow a settlement with the Chapter 7 Trustee for the Bankruptcy Estate of Woodbury Dental Arts and a claims process for consumers who paid fees for services they did not receive.
The issue is significant because many patients paid thousands of dollars upfront for dental procedures that were never completed, leaving some in debt or with unfinished treatments. The newly created Consumer Protection Restitution Account (CPRA) enabled these refunds after Woodbury Dental Arts filed for bankruptcy, leaving patients without other options to recover their funds.
So far, the Attorney General’s Office has received 341 claims and issued 76 checks totaling $1,047,209.82. An online tracker provides updates about the number of claims received and refund checks sent. “When Marko Kamel lost his dental license and shut down Woodbury Dental Arts, he left a lot of Minnesotans in a terrible position,” said Attorney General Ellison. “People paid thousands of dollars upfront for procedures they never received. Some were even in the middle of multi-step dental procedures that simply had to be halted, leaving them worse off than when they began the procedure. The Minnesotans harmed here deserve restitution, and I’m pleased to have begun that process by sending out over $1 million in refund checks. My office will continue to do everything we can to protect consumers and secure justice for people across our state who have been cheated or defrauded.”
In November 2023, Marko Kamel’s dental license was temporarily suspended by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry due to concerns about patient safety. Despite this suspension, Kamel continued collecting payments from patients before closing Woodbury Dental Arts without notice in March 2024 as final disciplinary action was pending against him.
Woodbury Dental Arts’ closure left hundreds of patients abandoned with incomplete treatments and no refunds; soon after closing it filed for bankruptcy protection.
The CPRA was established so funds recovered from bankrupt or insolvent companies could be used specifically to provide restitution directly back to affected consumers rather than being deposited into Minnesota’s general fund as had previously occurred.
