Dodgy Dentistry

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If your dentist answers to the name "Mama Elda," that might be your first clue she's practicing dodgy dentistry.

Elda Graciela Margez De Zamora "Mama Elda" (pictured below) was practicing dentistry without a license from her bedroom in a Phoenix, Arizona apartment.



The bed was set up as a dental chair and the living room was turned into a waiting room, with chairs and magazines, police said.

Most countries in the developed world have laws preventing the unlicensed practice of dentistry but we here at Infomaniac found a few more rogue dentists:

Muhammet Velipasaoglu (pictured below) operated a backyard dental practice out of his garage without a license for more than a decade in Melbourne, Australia...



He treated hundreds of patients while unregistered and smoked cigarettes during surgery. He smoked, spoke on the phone, didn’t wear a face mask or gloves and had unwashed hands while performing nine consecutive root canals on a young woman.

She said that Velipasaoglu asked her to hold the suction tube herself during her root canal. She gave evidence that he “dropped several of his tools, picked them up and continued performing the procedures with the dropped instruments”.


Eliver Kestler, also known as "El Dentista," (pictured below) operated an unsanctioned mobile dentistry service out of his red Chevrolet sedan in Santa Fe, New Mexico...



Police discovered a portable drill machine and other dental equipment inside his car...




Anca Claudia Macavei (pictured below) attempted to fit a bridge in the mouth of a patient after setting up a temporary surgery in a McDonald's restaurant in London, England...




Bogdan Pavlyshyn, (pictured below on the right) ran an unlicensed dentistry from his basement in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada...



Items seized from his home included scalpel blades, high-speed dental drills, dental implants, needles, local anesthetic and an x-ray sensor.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong. But I did it anyway,” Pavlyshyn said.

And finally...

"If you are looking for a new custom-fit gold grill for your teeth, you need to go somewhere else besides the Sunshine Flea Market in West Palm Beach."

Yousef Abuelhawa operated "Best Grillz in Town," a Florida business making custom gold teeth overlays — known as "grills." Grills are decorative covers for your teeth, often made of gold, silver or even jewel-encrusted, like this...



Abuelhawa was charged with a third-degree felony of unlicensed practice of dentistry, punishable by up to five years in prison. He also was cited for more than $2,700 in and told to cease and desist his activity.

In summary, we here at Infomaniac suggest that if your dentist runs his/her dental office out of their bedroom, garage, car, fast-food restaurant, basement or flea market, you might consider taking your business elsewhere.