Dental visit gone wrong: The alarming rise of quack dentists

It started like any routine dental visit. Tabitha Cherop visited a Nairobi Hospital in April for a root canal, expecting a smooth, three-session procedure. 

The first procedure was done without a hitch, but what happened during her second session turned into a nightmare of pain and neglect.

Tabitha claims she endured unanesthetised surgery while her dentist dismissed her screams—leaving her with a gaping wound and psychological trauma.

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A root canal is a dental procedure to treat infection or damage to the soft inner part of a tooth called the pulp. It involves removing the infected or damaged pulp, cleaning and disinfecting the tooth's root canals, and then filling and sealing the space to prevent future infection. This treatment aims to save a tooth that might otherwise need to be extracted.

Before beginning the procedure, a dentist is required to numb the area around the tooth with anesthesia to minimise pain and discomfort.

“During the first session, the dentist just put a temporary filling that came off after four days. During the second session, she told me she was going to do it without first applying a numbing cream or anaesthesia. I told her it was painful, but she said I wasn’t cooperative, and that if I didn't want to continue, then I could leave and return another day,” recalls Cherop.

“When I insisted that the procedure was not supposed to be painful, she said she wouldn’t work on me again before suggesting extracting the tooth instead even though it wasn't an extraction case. Feeling defeated, I left with an open, unfilled tooth,” she adds.

Cherop reported the incident to the hospital's management, who promised to follow up but did not so. She had paid Sh15,000 for the initial part of the process (total cost was Sh30,000). After posting about her experience online, she received a call from the hospital offering an appointment with the manager, which never materialised. A month later, the hospital offered another procedure as compensation for the money paid as they couldn't issue a refund. The specific details or completion of this compensatory procedure were not clarified.

Cherop eventually sought treatment from a private dentist. 

Cherop’s harrowing account of a painful, botched root canal without anesthesia directly reflects the concerns of Dr Kahura Mundia, the president of the Kenya Dental Association, about the rise of quack dentists, and the dangers of unprofessionalism.

He warns that fake dentists are flooding Nairobi central business district, Ngara, Eastleigh and counties like Wajir, Isiolo, Mombasa, Meru, Nakuru and Eldoret.

This trend, he says, is fueled by a mix of public unawareness, regulatory failures, lack of accessible, affordable dental care in public hospitals and profit-driven fraud. He adds that public dental facilities are understaffed and under-equipped.

 “In many parts of Kenya, unlicensed and unqualified individuals are offering dental services, exposing unsuspecting Kenyans to grave health risks. Failure to address this exposes citizens to preventable infections, complications, unnecessary hospital admissions, and even loss of life—costs that burden both families and the national healthcare system. No Kenyan should suffer or die from conditions that could have been prevented by access to safe, professional dental care,” says Dr Mundia.

He notes that one in every four clinics is a dental one and three are likely being run by unqualified persons masquerading as fully licensed dentists. 

The effects of dental quackery, says Dr Mundia, are dire and can have severe and even fatal, consequences. Patients risk infections, dental and facial abscesses, and sepsis. Common physical injuries include fractured teeth and jaws, and excessive bleeding. 

Fake fillings

Quacks often perform fake dental fillings, root canal treatments, and braces, leading to increased tooth looseness and temporomandibular joint disorders. Chemical bleaching by unqualified individuals can cause chemical burns and ulceration, while fake crowns and veneers can result in teeth destruction and sensitivity. 

More severe outcomes include permanent nerve damage and numbness from traumatic extractions, perforations into the nose and sinuses, and the displacement of teeth, tooth fragments, or instruments into the nose and jawbones. 

Beyond immediate physical harm, quackery also leads to abuse of antibiotics and painkillers, potentially causing antibiotic resistance and kidney conditions. Perhaps most critically, quacks are prone to misdiagnosis and mismanagement of serious conditions like cancers, delaying proper care and potentially leading to multiple organ failure and death from poorly managed dental diseases or traumatic oral surgery.

The proliferation of quacks also erodes patient trust and the legitimacy of dental care, leads to loss of professional standards and dignity, and increases the cost of quality dental care and health insurance premiums. It also disrupts the referral chain for clinical care and ultimately increases the overall dental disease burden as people avoid seeking professional help out of fear, according to the exper.

Dr Mundia adds that the rise of quacks is linked to Kenya’s failure to employ dentists in public facilities.

“The national and county governments have systematically failed to equip public dental facilities, provided minimal supplies of dental consumables, and stopped employment of dentists in public facilities to provide affordable and quality dental care services.

“This creates an artificial situation that we have inadequate dental professionals. The rising demand for dental services creates a business boom for quacks looking to serve desperate clients and patients who are unable to reach affordable care points. Some county governments have less than three dentists serving millions of residents.”

Dr Mundia also accuses health Insurance companies of engaging unqualified persons to perform dental work services beyond their scope of practice. 

“Dental technologist (prosthetic laboratory officers) and community oral health officers (health prevention and promoters) are not dentists and are not allowed by law to extend scope into dentistry practice. Dental clinic assistants (certificate or diploma holders) assist in patient support. Community Oral Health Officers, who hold diplomas, are trained for public oral health education and disease prevention, not mainstream clinical practice. Similarly, dental technologists (diploma holders) fabricate dental prosthetics under a dentist's direction and are not trained clinicians. Allowing these cadres to perform full dental services in clinics constitutes unregulated quackery,” he says.

He adds that the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act, Cap 253, Section 22, prohibits unqualified persons from practising, opening clinics, or employing unqualified staff, with penalties ranging from Sh5 million to 10 years’ imprisonment. “However, the main challenge lies in the enforcement of this law, with many complaints failing to reach prosecution due to inadequate enforcement by the KMPDC officials, who ought to regulate the practice.”

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