GREENE – Lewiston dentist Jan Kippax was arrested Tuesday night and charged with assaulting his wife at their home on Hummingbird Hill Lane.

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department arrested Kippax, 49, after a family member called to report that the dentist was fighting with his wife.

When police arrived, they found evidence that Kippax had slammed his wife’s arm in a copy machine and slapped her after the couple fought over finances. Kippax was arrested and taken to the county jail. He was later released on $250 bail.

Kippax, who runs his dentistry out of a building on Main Street in Lewiston, has had run-ins with the sheriff’s department in the past.

In 2007, he was summoned on a theft charge after a neighbor reported Kippax, who operates a kennel, had stolen a dog. The neighbor meanwhile was accused of assaulting Kippax’s wife while confronting the couple about the missing animal.

All charges in that incident were later dropped.

In 2002, Kippax was the focus of an investigation by the Maine Board of Dental Examiners after nine former employees accused him of violations. Among them, Kippax was accused of failing to wash his hands between appointments and ignoring patient pain.

Ultimately, Kippax was found guilty of violating the Maine Dental Practice Act on several occasions between January 1997 and September 1999. He was ordered to surrender his license for two weeks and was put on probation.

For the domestic assault arrest Tuesday night, Kippax will be ordered to answer the charge in court.