In 2002, Tod Schaffer of Brookline, Mass., injured his tooth at a local restaurant after biting into a piece of plastic. The restaurant eventually paid for his injury.

But Schaffer took a larger bit of insurance claims, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, filing 21 injury reports and receiving more than $36,000 in claims over the same broken tooth.

Schaffer, 42, now stands charged with 19 counts of insurance fraud, 10 counts of larceny over $250 and 11 counts of attempted larceny over $250 following an investigation by the attorney general and the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau.

The IFS received notification from an investigator for the Great American Insurance Co. who discovered that several restaurant claims for the same broken tooth all contained identical personal information allegedly belonging to Schaffer.

On various dates between November 2002 and May 2006, investigators found that Schaffer allegedly submitted 19 false injury claims to insurance companies and two additional claims to a self-insured entity. Authorities believe the claims allegedly contained the same information from Schaffer’s legitimate 2002 injury.

Investigators discovered that Schaffer apparently altered the manner in which the injury occurred on the claims by reporting that he injured his tooth by biting into a rock, or stone, plastic after eating at numerous Boston area restaurants.

Ten of the false claims were paid out at more than $36,000 to Schaffer, the attorney general’s office said. Schaffer allegedly withdrew his claims at nine restaurants and another two were denied.

Schaffer was arraigned in a Suffolk Superior Court and is scheduled to appear again in May.