DENTAL DANGER

The apparent rise in the illegal administration of dental procedures locally has triggered a warning from the health authorities that these black-market routines may result in life-threatening illnesses or death.

The alarm comes amid several social media advertisements for teeth-whitening services, cosmetic braces, veneers and training to administer these procedures by persons operating outside of the authority of the Dental Council of Jamaica.

The council is the statutory body constituted under the Dental Act of 1972 for maintaining self-regulation of the dental professions.

At least two operations have been shut down in St Ann in recent months, Dental Council Chairman Dr Lloyd Prince told The Gleaner on Tuesday, with the police in hot pursuit of others.

“We have been getting and seeing increased instances, especially on social media,” said Prince.

Those cases include the heavily marketed services of Tooth Palace Consultant and its subsidiary Tooth Palace Ja, which offer teeth-whitening services and training, and Veneers by Tooth Palace, which offers veneer installation and training.

The business' sole trader is McCoy Wilson.

Wilson has offered to train and certify others to acquire what he termed a “high-generating skill set” through his Veneers Hollywood Whitening course, which costs $2,000,000.

The package includes what he called whitening documents, whitening certificate, training and education as well as machines and supplies.

The man claims to be certified as a teeth whitening technician, according to a photo of what appears to be a certificate on Tooth Palace's Instagram page.

Dozens of images were posted on the social media pages of the businesses of people who either received dental care or were purportedly trained and certified to offer services, costing up to $300,000.

In a video posted to one of the pages, Wilson encouraged persons to invest in learning how to do the procedures from him instead of investing in real estate, which, he said, took longer to yield benefits.

“High-end skill set weh you can learn like mine in like one week typically, when I'm charging my client, it's like $300,000 fi do a Hollywood whitening veneers and that take me like one day. So, all I'm saying, real estate is the slower form of investment,” he said.

The Gleaner contacted Wilson on Monday, but he declined to comment, arguing only that “the business is a licensed one”.

“We're licensed to do whatever we are doing,” he said.

Checks by The Gleaner revealed that the business was registered with the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) in September 2020 to offer consultancy services.

However, Wilson is not listed among dentists on the Dental Council's website.

The institution at which he was certified is also not clear.

The COJ did not provide responses to several questions sent by The Gleaner up to press time on Tuesday.

The Gleaner sought to ascertain whether Wilson presented any certification for dental procedures when he applied to register the business; whether the business remained in good standing with the COJ; and whether it investigated or made checks before authorising registration, among other things.

Malpractice carries of up to $1 million or jail time, Dr Prince said, while adding that the council has resorted to setting up a social media watchdog to monitor and report any emergence of businesses engaging in these practices.

He said, too, that “phantom patients” have been used to assist with locating where these operations are taking place and a cease and desist notice is delivered or the police are called in.

He said that the council has decided to go the route of increased public awareness in pointing out the “damaging effects and consequences” that these procedures can have on persons.

Prince added that amendments are afoot for the Dental Act and that the finance ministry has approved legal adviser positions for the council to fast-track the process.

Still, Dr Ajani Blake, former president of the Jamaica Dental Association, believes that enforcement is a large part of the problem.

He pointed to unhygienic methods being used by unauthorised persons to perform dental procedures, including soft drink bottles with a hole in the top to rinse the mouth.

“I have had instances where people have come to me with fashion braces on the teeth and the teeth are moving in ways that is not conducive to them staying in the mouth. So they are shaking, and a lot of people are not aware,” he told The Gleaner, at the same time questioning the likelihood of persons being properly trained in infection control and the spread of diseases.

He warned that the dental environment is a hazardous one.

Blake said that while hard data may not be available, the belief is that illegal practices have become more pervasive.

“ … I'm seeing a lot more of this and it might reach a stage where it becomes a public health crisis,” he noted.

“I wonder if the police now should be more involved in what's happening,” he added, urging at the same time that enforced regulation could curtail the issue.

Dr Irving McKenzie, chief dental officer in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, called the actions of persons operating off the book fraudulent when thought is given to what is required to do the aforementioned services legally.

At the same time, he said that a number of them have managed to evade the police, often “packing up shop” before the lawmen arrive.

He argued that no one outside of a trained dental surgeon licensed to practise in Jamaica should be authorised to open any business related to dentistry, noting that dental surgeons undergo training for five to eight years before they are allowed into practice.

“Later on, you develop cavities underneath all of that façade. You're talking about abscess in the mouth and other things. How far are your teeth from your brain? Your mouth is part of your craniofacial complex. It is a part of your head and most diseases in that part of your head easily go to the brain. They have done so much harm to themselves doing these procedures,” McKenzie asserted.

He noted that dental diseases are sometimes related to cardiovascular disease. They have also triggered heart palpitations and issues with the lungs, he further disclosed.

“It [causes] the plaque in the blood vessels to peel off and block blood vessels elsewhere in your body. You can die. Oral diseases can kill people. Most persons don't hear that story. They see dentistry as a hygiene thing. It's brushing and keeping your teeth clean. Hygiene is one aspect. Dentistry is serious health,” he warned.

“Dental health problems can cause myriad of problems with an individual. So, for someone to take that risk, it's like you're wondering [if] that person is taking drugs,” said McKenzie.

Urging Jamaicans to seek dental care from registered professionals, McKenzie said Jamaicans should resist the urge to care more about optics rather than the status of their oral health. He noted that sometimes unauthorised persons miss certain issues that a professional would pick up on when they go into the mouth. These issues could then lead to cancer, which results in them having to remove parts of the face and neck.

He noted that there are doctors in the public service who will assess and provide care safely and, in most instances, free of charge through goodwill programmes.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com