ABSTRACT
In many developing countries of the world where dental health care facilities by college I university trained personnel are limited, or very expensive the poor segments of the society go to unqualified persons [known as quacks] to get dental treatment
Quack is an untrained person who has learnt dentistry either by assisting a dental surgeon or inherited it from his family and later on adopted it as a profession. The treatment provided by them is often far below the normal set standards for sterilization and therefore the chances of a patient being exposed to life threatening conditions such as Hepatitis B, C and AIDS at their end is far more than at the hands of a qualified dental practitioner
The following questionnaire based survey maps the current situation of dental quacks in the urban [65%] and rural [35%] sectors of Federal Area [Islamabad], in terms of their methods of sterilization adopted and their treatment modalities. The main aim was to evaluate problems related to malpractice and professionalism. A diverse range of sterilization methods ranging from autoclaving to the use of plain water irrigation was observed. The opinion of the general public was also sought for, revealing varied ideas from suggesting courses for quacks in order to improve their quality of work to completely banning quackery
This malpractice [Quackery] is harming the public confidence in dentistry and also causing degeneration in professional ethics. Health regulatory authorities should be concerned about the increasing number of complaints about the unconventional health care issues