Real pain! State has 10,000 fake dentists

Be careful when you step into the chamber of a dentist next time as around 10,000 dentists practicing across West Bengal are suspected to be fake and treating patients without a proper registration from the Dental Council of India (DCI), the Indian Dental Association's (IDA) West Bengal chapter warned.

What is more alarming here is that IDA suspects that many registered dentists are lending their registration numbers to some fake dentists who are practicing with other's registrations. IDA has received some complaints saying that some registered dentists from Rajarhat, New Town and other parts of the state are in this practice.

Keeping this in mind, the West Bengal Dental Council (WBDC) has decided to ask all dentists practicing in the state to submit their registrations to them. The Council will verify the registration of dentists so that fake dentists can be detected. The WBDC is also planning to make it compulsory for dentists with Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Masters of Dental Surgery (MDS) degrees to mention their registration numbers on their prescriptions. They will also have to mention the subjects they had studied during their specialisations.

IDA's sate branch has urged people to be alert and also check whether the prescription carries the registration number of the dentist.

DCI has also urged all dentists who are yet to register all their degrees to do so immediately. There are around 5,200 registered dentists practicing in different establishments and private chambers in the state. IDA's Bengal chapter has requested people who come across any suspected fake dentists to register complaints through email at wbida.office@gmail.com.

A senior DCI official, who requested anonymity, said that stern action would be taken against those found practicing without a valid registration number.

Indian Dental Association state Secretary Dr Raju Biswas said that IDA is taking initiatives to detect all fake dentists in the state. A delegation of the IDA Bengal chapter met the DIG (CID) at Bhavani Bhavan on Wednesday and urged him to start a probe to nail fake dentists.

"The CID will soon proceed in this regard. Action will be taken against those are found to be practicing without a valid registration," added Dr Biswas.