BURI RAM - Police have arrested a fake dentist and two others for running a dental clinic without a licence in Muang district of this northeastern province.
Local police and health officials raided the clinic in a commercial building in Buri Ram municipality on Thursday. They found a 28-year-old man identified only as Kai fitting dental braces for a 19-year-old woman.
Dr Yutthana Suriya, head of the provincial public health office, said the arrest followed public complaints about the unlicensed clinic where dental treatment and brace services were available.
The arrests took place while Mr Kai and two assistants were treating a 19-year-old woman. They also seized medicine, anaesthetic and brace equipment.
Officials found that unclean and substandard practices and equipment posed serious health risks because patients could contract blood infections, hepatitis or experience damage to mouth structures, Dr Yutthana said.
The 19-year-old patient told officials that she learned about the clinic via social media and made an appointment to get braces.
However, she said she became concerned because she did not receive an X-ray before treatment, nor did she even see an X-ray machine. She realised her mistake when the authorities showed up while she was in the dentist’s chair.
Mr Kai reportedly told police that he did not graduate in dentistry but had run the clinic for about a decade.
