Sitting in front of a camera for a highly produced, well-lit vertical video with the kind of caption made to watch on mute while you\u2019re scrolling through social media, a patient for SmileTexas near Houston tells viewers about traveling from out of state to fix her teeth.<\/p>\n
The patient, whose teeth had needed to be addressed for years after a biking accident, says in the video that she started to cry when she saw her new smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love my new family at Smile Texas! The video says it all, and I am so grateful for their help fixing my smile for me,\u201d reads a caption for the video post, shared on several social media platforms.<\/p>\n
It could have been a testimonial from any one of SmileTexas\u2019s patients, who include a celebrity chef, influencers, pageant contestants, a professional athlete and a reality star, all of whom have also appeared in promotional content for the practice.<\/p>\n
But the patient in the latest testimonial was Kristi L. Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, who is considered a potential running mate for former president Donald Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gracious leading lady @govkristinoem just received an executive, feminine, beautiful smile here at Smile Texas,\u201d Bret Davis, the dentist who worked on Noem, wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cI\u2019ll be posting later how we achieved this smile on this gracious, calm, and courageous patriot!\u201d<\/p>\n
The video, posted on the governor\u2019s social media accounts this past week, has led to a firestorm of criticism, a lawsuit and a potential ethics inquiry questioning whether she participated in an undisclosed advertisement or used state resources.<\/p>\n
Two spokespeople for Noem did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
The practice, more than 1,000 miles from the South Dakota governor\u2019s mansion in Pierre, regularly works with influencer types, many of whom travel from out of state to fix their smile.<\/p>\n
It focuses on cosmetic dentistry and dental implants, and boasts an in-house pianist and a dedicated filming room. It also promotes travel to the practice, listing local lodging and taxi services on its website.<\/p>\n
Federal Election Commission data shows that two dentists pictured with Noem, including Davis, have donated in support of Republican political candidates, including Trump, over the years.<\/p>\n
Noem\u2019s promotion of medical tourism, without properly disclosing it in the ad\u2019s caption or video, is the target of a recent lawsuit from the nonprofit Travelers United. It\u2019s not clear whether Noem was compensated in any way for the services she received in Texas.<\/p>\n
Lauren Wolfe, counsel for Travelers United, which has pursued other cases related to travel influencers, said that if the governor \u201cwas able to prove with basic receipt \u2026 that she paid full price for these services, we would be happy to drop the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexandra Roberts, professor at Northeastern University School of Law, noted that the Federal Trade Commission has been aggressively messaging \u201cabout the requirement to disclose any kind of material benefit\u201d for social media influencers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got everything about what kind of hashtags [to use] and where the hashtags go,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ve sent out a ton of warning letters, both to influencers and to the companies that are paying the influencers.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also an effort brewing in the South Dakota Capitol to launch an inquiry into the governor\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n
South Dakota state Sen. Reynold Nesiba (D) asked the Republican co-chairs of the legislature\u2019s Government Operations & Audit Committee to put the issue on the next meeting agenda in July.<\/p>\n
Nesiba said he has questions about whether public funds were used for her trip to Texas. He also questioned whether the trip was an attempt to appeal to Trump, who has publicly praised allies whose appearance is straight out of \u201ccentral casting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seems like such a well-timed political stunt to raise your national profile and to get the former president\u2019s attention. The whole thing seems and feels like a political move to try to increase her odds of getting the nomination to be the vice president of the United States,\u201d Nesiba said.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s been mixed interest among members of the committee to pursue the issue, he said.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time the committee has been asked to look into Noem\u2019s behavior in office.<\/p>\n
The committee was responsible for a legislative report finding that Noem\u2019s daughter received preferential treatment when she applied for her real estate appraiser\u2019s license in 2020.<\/p>\n
Nesiba said that in addition to raising questions about the use of public funds, the governor\u2019s trip to Texas for dental work stands in contrast to her efforts to bring workers to South Dakota \u2014 including starring in recurring ads where she fills in for various vacant jobs to show that they\u2019re hiring in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the jobs that she\u2019s dressed up as is a dental hygienist, telling people to come to South Dakota because we have these dental openings. And then here she is going to Texas to do some dental work. I just found it just disappointing,\u201d Nesiba said, adding that dentists in South Dakota have expressed anger over Noem\u2019s Texas video.<\/p>\n
Since posting the SmileTexas video, the governor has posted two iPhone-style videos to her social media accounts promoting businesses in South Dakota.<\/p>\n
At an orthotics store in Rapid City, with a bag in hand and employees on each side, the governor says the store built her new shoe inserts, adding: \u201cI\u2019m going to be perfect. I\u2019m going to be like Bionic Woman now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Posing with coffee shop owners in Spearfish, Noem says: \u201cThis coffee shop is amazing. \u2026 You will enjoy it. They love America.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sitting in front of a camera for a highly produced, well-lit vertical video with the kind of caption made to watch on mute while you\u2019re scrolling through social media, a patient for SmileTexas near Houston tells viewers about traveling from out of state to fix her teeth. The patient, whose teeth had needed to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}