Columbo relied on trickery with the chemistry set and his claim that "digitalis heated to body temperature will turn porcelain blue" ruse to finally catch Wesley. What if Wesley, even after seeing Columbo's experiment let that tooth be extracted? There would have been no blue and Columbo's ruse would have failed, right there in front of Wesley and his father-in-law. We know Columbo would have kept trying until he caught Wesley, but by his own admission at the race track, he couldn't prove it. Yes, Wesley would have still been fired from his father-in-law's practice and divorced from his wife, but he would have been a free man.

I have said this before on this forum, But Wesley Corman is a complete creep.

Not only does Corman kill someone but he tries to blame it on his sick wife whom he claims to love. Putz. But lets say that he demanded to see the tooth. I have often wondered myself why he never did. But let's put that aside. Your interpretation of what would happen next is absolutely On Target. Also, his father-in-law would most likely hold him to the high debts that he ran up. Recall earlier in the episode that Corman was shown the ledger of how much money was owrd.

So if he got off, you really would not be getting off because the following would occur calling.

No dental practice, No wife, Columbo on his ass, and held four debts of over $100,000. And obviously he's probably going to lose the house that he lives in. Either way, he has it coming.