Dentist

His job may be to fix teeth, but one Delaware County dentist has been accused of trying to bust some. Already under federal indictment for allegedly filing false tax returns, Richard Kaufman, 60, who has a dentistry practice in Newtown Square, now faces assault charges in Glen Mills after police said he and a buddy beat two men who tried to repossess Kaufman's car last week. Police said two men from Stealth Recovery Repossession Co. arrived at Kaufman's house on Ivy Lane in Glen Mills about 11 p.m. Thursday to repossess his 2006 Jeep Commander, but their knocks at his doors went unanswered.

Walter E. Knouse Jr., 85, of Lumberville, a dentist and pilot who once lived in a house many thought was haunted, died of an apparent heart attack Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Buckingham Athletic Club. Dr. Knouse attended Cheltenham High School, where he lettered in three sports. When he was 17, he enlisted in the Navy. He told the Bucks County Courier Times in 2007 that while on active duty with the Navy from 1943 to 1948, he piloted 10 different aircraft, including the Douglas Dauntless dive-bomber and a Hellcat, and made 100 landings aboard aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.

Sylvan Orens, 85, of Elkins Park, a dentist who specialized in pain management, died of heart failure Tuesday, Aug. 31, at Abington Memorial Hospital. Dr. Orens practiced general dentistry in Germantown and Olney before opening an office in Elkins Park in 1988. To offer his patients the best care, he requested extensive medical histories and took courses in pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and orthodontics, and became expert in acupressure techniques, said his wife, Connie Elkins Orens.

A Delaware County dentist has been indicted in the alleged filing of inaccurate tax returns, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Richard P. Kaufman, 60, of Glen Mills, has been charged with obstructing administration of Internal Revenue laws, making false claims, and failing to file tax returns. According to the indictment, Kaufman has not filed a legitimate tax return since 1992. It says he attempted to hide income from the IRS by changing bank accounts, transferring property into the name of another person, submitting false documents, and making false claims totaling $7 million in federal income withholdings for 2008.

Jeffrey E. Kanner, 64, of Yardley, a dentist who coached young people in problem-solving competitions, died of multiple myeloma Wednesday, Aug. 18, at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township. In 1972, Dr. Kanner joined a Levittown dental practice. The office moved to Langhorne in 1984. For many years, he also worked at the Statesman Health and Rehabilitation Center in Levittown. Though Dr. Kanner battled cancer for more than eight years, undergoing two stem-cell transplants, he was able to practice until last year, said his wife, Linda Silberberg Kanner.

A Bryn Mawr dentist and three friends are sponsoring a fund- raising dinner Saturday in Villanova. Section B .

Harold Shpeen, 87, of Marlton, a longtime dentist and former president of the Jewish Federation of South Jersey, died Tuesday, Aug. 17, at his home. When Mariam Shpeen Feist was growing up, she thought her father was employed by the federation and the Jewish Community Centers of Southern New Jersey. After all, Dr. Shpeen would sometimes host meetings at his home, and everything he did revolved around the federation. "It wasn't until later that I realized my father was a dentist," Feist said with a laugh.

Gary P. Kaplan, 68, of Cherry Hill, a longtime South Jersey dentist who became an advocate for organ donations after receiving a kidney transplant, died Sunday, April 4, of congestive heart failure at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden. Following a family tradition - his father and aunt were dentists - Dr. Kaplan started his own practice after a short stint in the Army and a residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. In 1972, he opened the doors to his Blackwood office, which he shared with another dentist for several years.

A Main Line dentist who dumped syringes and other medical waste in the waters off Avalon, closing beaches there and setting off a panic at the Jersey Shore shortly before Labor Day 2008, yesterday agreed to pay $100,000 to the resort. Thomas W. McFarland Jr., 61, of Wynnewood, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful discharge of water pollutants before Superior Court Judge Raymond A. Batten. McFarland will serve no jail time. The charge - a fourth-degree crime - was downgraded from two third-degree counts that each carried a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Thomas McFarland will have to pay $100,000 for having dumped needles that washed up along the beaches of Avalon, but the Montgomery County dentist won't go to jail. Yesterday, McFarland, 61, of Wynnewood, pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree charge of dumping medical debris from his practice into the waters near Avalon in summer 2008. The plea deal means McFarland will serve probation and pay the borough $100,000. The night of Aug. 22, 2008, according to court documents, McFarland set off in his Boston Whaler from his waterfront home in Middle Township, near Avalon, into Townsends Inlet and dumped nearly 250 dental needles, capsules used to hold dental filling material, cotton swabs and other debris into the water.