The devastating effect of quackery in the healthcare profession cannot be overemphasized. In this article, a dental officer shares her experience and exposure to the depth of quackery in providing dental care services to the unsuspecting population.
After concluding my compulsory housemanship, I decided to move back to Lagos to maybe work a little before deciding on what major step I’d take next. While surfing the internet for temporary dental job offers that would keep me occupied, I stumbled on something rather interesting too. Nothing prepared me for the shock I experienced firsthand after finding out that a whole lot of beauty parlours, spas, aesthetics and cosmetic centres now carry out a number of dental procedures, and they are audacious enough to advertise on various social media platforms.
Procedures like scaling and polishing, teeth whitening, placement of crowns and veneers are now done by people who have no dental degree and worse, is that they’re being frequently patronised by laymen, including celebrities in the entertainment industry – thereby giving them more undeserved publicity. There are also other services offered, such as the so-called fashion braces, gum massage, tooth jewellery and a host of other “unreal” procedures, which are being referred to as “dental procedures” by these quacks.
It’s heartbreaking that the dental profession – which is still in its infancy in Nigeria, when compared to what is practised in the western world – has been invaded by unqualified persons. There are however pertinent questions to be asked such as: Who is teaching these unqualified persons these specialised procedures? Can and will measures be taken to checkmate and fight this professional onslaught by our regulatory bodies such as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigerian Dental Association (NDA) amongst others? How long will we allow this to happen?
As a young dentist who spent a huge part of her twenties working so hard to earn my degree, I’m sure I speak the mind of many young dentists when I say, it is both disheartening and discouraging to watch quacks fearlessly carry out known dental procedures – as well as questionable dental services – which they have no basic theoretical knowledge and understanding of, and still get paid handsomely by unsuspecting victims commonly referred to as “clients” by those they patronise.
The issue of dental quackery is an emergent situation, and something must be done quickly about it. However, I believe the first step in fighting quackery in the dental profession is first admitting that it exists and having difficult conversations with ourselves – as dental professionals – to find out where we went wrong. We cannot keep holding dental conferences and seminars on every subject matter except QUACKERY. Our delicate profession is in so much danger, and we cannot continue to turn a blind eye.
Hence, this is an earnest call to all stakeholders involved, to save our dental and oral healthcare from the claws of quackery in Nigeria.
Editor’s note:
This article was gotten from the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) general platform and the author remains anonymous.
