Ex-Fall River dentist who used paper clips in dental work to serve 1 year behind bars.

Former Fall River dentist Michael J. Clair was sentenced today to two and a half years in the Bristol County House of Correction after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his use of paper clips rather than stainless steel posts during root canals, according to the attorney general, Boston.com reported.

Clair will serve one year of his sentence and will be put on probation for five years following his release. The balance of his prison sentence was suspended.

Clair, 53, of Maryland allegedly billed Medicaid for the cost of the stainless steel posts he was supposed to install into people’s mouths during root canal surgery, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office. Instead of stainless steel clips, Clair used paper clips, prosecutors said.

“The defendant physically and emotionally harmed his patients by taking advantage of the trust they placed in him as their dentist,” Coakley said in a statement. “Mr. Clair brazenly cheated the Medicaid program and defrauded taxpayer dollars, billing for health care services he did not provide.”

Clair also pleaded guilty last week to charges of assault and battery, larceny over $250, tampering with evidence, intimidation of a witness, and illegally prescribing hydrocodone, Combunox, and Percocet.

He is also facing charges that he fraudulently billed about $130,000 to Medicaid between August 2003 and June 2005.

Following an investigation in 2002, Clair was suspended from participation in MassHealth, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program.

However, Clair hired several dentists at his Fall River practice and then began filing claims using their information for services he provided. He improperly collected about $130,000 in two years, prosecutors said in a statement.