What was supposed to be a routine dental visit for an 8-year-old boy ended with flashing lights outside a pediatric office — and his dentist in jail.
Kelly Buck, 36, is now facing a felony charge after police say she operated on a child while intoxicated inside a Sherman, Texas dental clinic.
She denies it. Her attorney says bloodwork will prove she was sober.
But the allegations have already stunned parents across North Texas.
According to police and court documents obtained by local outlets, Buck was performing a filling and crown procedure on a young patient when something went wrong — not medically, but behaviorally.
A dental technician assisting in the room reportedly noticed what she believed were signs of impairment. The tech allegedly grew so concerned that she stopped the procedure herself.
Then the boy’s father called 911.
Officers arrived around noon to Pediatric Dentistry of Sherman. What they claim they saw next escalated the situation fast.
Authorities say Buck showed visible signs of intoxication when they made contact with her.
A field sobriety test was conducted inside or near the office. According to KXII, Buck failed.
She was arrested on the spot and charged with performing surgery while intoxicated — a state jail felony under Texas law.
Police confirmed she had already treated at least one patient earlier that day.
Investigators later secured a warrant for a blood sample. Those results are still pending and could determine whether this case collapses or explodes.
“It’s definitely a very unusual case,” Sherman Police Lt. Sam Boyle said.
Unusual — and deeply alarming.
Buck’s attorney is pushing back hard.
“Mrs. Buck is not guilty of the charges she was arrested for,” said Matthew Hamilton of Jarvis & Hamilton Law Firm. “She has been a licensed dentist since 2016 and takes treating her patients very seriously.”
He says the pending blood results will show “no drugs or alcohol were in her system.”
Buck also told WFAA she offered to take a breathalyzer but claims officers refused. Her attorney says she cooperated fully, including allowing police to search her car. No contraband was found.
Buck has held a Texas dental license since 2016. Public records show no prior disciplinary actions.
At the time of the incident, she was reportedly working as a temporary contractor through a staffing agency.
She was booked into the Grayson County Jail and later released on a $10,000 bond.
If convicted, she faces up to two years in state jail.
The image is hard to shake: a child in a dental chair, tools in his mouth, and a staff member stepping in to halt the procedure.
For many parents, the most shocking detail is not the arrest — it’s that a technician allegedly felt compelled to stop a dentist mid-treatment.
The case now hinges on forensic evidence. If blood tests confirm intoxication, prosecutors could argue a child was put at serious risk. If the results come back clean, Buck’s defense may claim she was wrongly accused in a high-pressure environment.
Either way, a routine pediatric appointment has turned into a criminal case that could end a career — and has already shaken trust inside one Texas exam room.
I was thinking of buying a winter condo in Sherman until I saw the property crime rate. It’s NOT a place to leave a domicile unoccupied for half of the year. I might have returned in October to find it OCCUPIED.