Dentists are supposed to help improve your teeth so that they will be beautiful and healthy as you age. However, unlicensed dentists are often only out for money and have no experience whatsoever with teeth and dental hygiene. Unlicensed dental disasters are very common in Asia, where the scamming doctors explain that clients need work done to their mouths. Then, without any experience, they drill and grind away at the teeth until they are in worse shape than before. Xu Feng is a mother who visited her dentist in Asia for a routine check-up. Upon inspection, the devious doctor told her that the needed 12 crowns on her teeth. He was so convincing that she believed him, and handed over more than $1,850 in order to have the work done.

Once Feng’s anesthetic wore off, she explains that she was in “more pain than she could ever imagine.” She went to a different dentist, this one was a licensed and professional worker, and asked him to remove the faulty crowns. Once they were taken off, the dentist discovered that Feng’s mouth was riddled with infection and accesses. The dentists gave her treatments to fix these maladies. It was then that Feng looked in the mirror for the first time. Her teeth had been ground into small stumps which looked more like the teeth of a monster than those of a loving and caring mother. She says that now, whenever she opens her mouth, her 1-year-old daughter cries in fear.

Feng received her treatment in central China. According to an AOL report, Fiji’s Department of Immigration is currently investigation a Chinese couple who has been running an illegal dental practice on the islands, and other countries have also felt the weight of the horrible malpractice. In Fiji, the government is trying to get rid of the many illegal dentists in the area. The Ministry of Health issued a warning telling people to ask the name of any dentist that is performing procedures and ask to see his or her registration certificate before allowing that doctor to perform any procedures.

Unlicensed dentists also tend to set up shop in Indonesia, where the government had to pass a law to make their practices illegal. The new regulation enraged many unlicensed dentists, who complained that it would make it impossible for low-income people to get dental work if they were not allowed to continue working. The country of Indonesia has a dentist shortage, and the unlicensed practitioners are four to five times cheaper than those who have been to school. You may be thinking that Feng’s tragic occurrence, and the other unlicensed dentists in Asia have nothing to do with dentistry in the United States.

Yet this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the illegal dentists in these other countries have a direct effect on American consumers who need some attention to their teeth. Five percent of all dental restorations are made in China, and dentists purchase these restorations for $30 - $50 each. The dentists then take these restorations and sell them at their office for about $1,000 each. Yet the dental restorations from China are often created with toxic levels of lead.

This lead is then placed in client’s mouths, where it can cause lead poisoning and create serious illnesses. The U.S. National Association of Dental Laboratories has already issued a warning about this problem, due to reports of lead poisoning. However, they haven’t banned the use of the Chinese dental fixtures. Whenever you are choosing a dentist, make sure that he or she is a licensed practitioner. This is especially true if his or her rates are extremely low, or if the dentist has set up shop in a questionable location. If you work hard, you can avoid ending up like Ms. Feng, who told the press that an unlicensed, illegal dentist stole her smile.