DENTAL QUACKS IN WORLD
Dental Quackery is prevalent in India and world over for many years. Many dental quacks all over the world practice the road side dentistry providing many basic dental treatments like fitting dentures. But this whole practice is unethical, unhealthy & unscientific.
Though it provides the poor patients with cheap treatments but they are damaging the patient oral health.
Source : Dave Adair Photography
On a world scale dental quackery is most prevalent in Asian Countries.
This is mostly because of low awareness regarding
oral health, poverty and hardly any primary dental care centers in the rural areas.
As per the dentist act of Constitution ” practicing dental treatment
without a valid dental degree is a legal crime and is punishable under law”
As a dentist myself also I am completely against the practice of road side dentistry.
The dental quacks can be relocated and retaught in basic dental first aids then can be utilized by the govt. as helpers to doctors in all the rural areas.
We are sure you don’t see dental quacks on a daily basis.
So you might not feel its that important.
Through this post we are just trying raise the value of the issue in front of you.
Just see the number of patients waiting for their dental treatment (in the picture below) with police man watching over.
Shouldn’t these poor patients go to a dentist and get their treatment done.
Then why don’t they ?
In this post you will see up close some the practicing dental quacks in the world and the condition of the work they provide.
Warning : Some images may not be easy for your viewing.
So you have been notified before hand.
You will next See A Real Life Road Side Extraction In Pictures (Hard to believe)
Source : Dave Adair Photography
See Next Slide for the Details
on Street Dentistry
#1.The Holy Sidewalk Dentist Baba from Varanasi
Source : Dave Adair Photography
These photographs were taken around 6 years back by Dave Adair on his trip to India.
Here the dentist quacks duo provide dentures and extract in their road side shop.
Just have a look at the entire sequence of procedures that were snapped by Dave Adair.
The Patient before treatment
Dentist Baba 1 preparing & shaping the denture on road with non dentist tools
Happy Patient
Dentist Baba No.2 Giving LA for extraction
As per the author – He pulls out the heavy artillery, and the girl isn’t even sitting down – she’s squatting as Mr. Less-Colorful-Dentist CRANKS on her tooth.We don’t know why she didn’t faint, because we almost did.
Extraction Done
In the words of the author – She used a plastic bucket to rinse out her bloody mouth and spit into the gutter. But she doesn’t look any worse for the wear – and she said it didn’t hurt. She looks older, but she’s only 14.
See Next : Dental Quack Shop In Delhi
Dental Quack Shop In Busy Streets of Delhi
This is Surinder Singh, 67 years old who has been practicing street dentistry in Delhi for past 40 years. He learned the tricks from his father and have been using it for almost half a century.
He says that most of his clients are poorest of the poor who can never afford any dental clinic. Such people have no where else to go for their dental problem.
The Photos below were published in DailyMail.co.uk and
were shot by Cover Asia Press in 2014
He adds that in the current time he gets around 5 to 6 patients a week earning around 3000 Indian rupees. 10 years back he used to make around 10 to 15 000 Indian rupees. (200 $)
When asked ” Does he know that it’s a legal crime to practice road side dentistry and he might land up in jail ?
He says ” Saab ! They want to put me in jail then let them put. Am 67 years old ! Too old to do any hard labor work and he doesn’t have any other skills than the road side dentistry tricks. If big doctors want to feel happy by putting a poor old man like me in jail … then let them do it.
What can I say ! I have to do it to help a bit in running my family. “
It was really a sad situation where dentistry was the only side loosing.
And the hopelessness with which Surinder Singh spoke evoked sympathy over the wide social & economical difference in Indian society.
Next Slide
Chinese clinic at Bangladesh Border
Chinese clinic at Bangladesh Border
Exact location is not known but this is supposed
to be present at India – Bangladesh border
Dental Quacks in China
image source : imgur
Dental Quacks in Pakistan
See Next Slide
Dental Quacks In Pakistan
image source : imgur
In most of the developed due to tremendous increase in the oral health awareness dental quackery hardly exists. But the situation is more prominent in Asian Countries.
The answer to these is development and awareness.
Check out the article below thats shows the history of Dental Quackery evolution and also discusses what is the most correct way to decrease such practices.
DENTAL QUACKS IN INDIA AND THE SOLUTION | DENTALORG.COM
(Before we start – Its an issue that we all including the Govt. ignores. You might not even go till the end of the article covering all 5 slides as its not very glamorous. Its the unclean side of dentistry. But this is one of the major termite eating away the future of new generation dentists.
