Dental Scams Are Gaining Ground on Social Media

One of the subtler punchlines of the last season of Saturday Night Live involved a man buying facial reconstruction surgery on Groupon. The implication was pretty clear: there are some areas where a bargain price isn’t a good idea, and surgery is usually one of them. Still, the appeal of a good deal endures — and unfortunately, that’s left the door open for scammers to take advantage of people. Including those who’d like some improvements on their smile.

Earlier this year, the American Dental Association issued a warning about unlicensed dentists advertising veneer services. This isn’t simply a debate over licensing; as the Associated Press’s Matthew Perrone reported this week, Atlanta police recently arrested Brandon Dillard, a self-described “veneer specialist,” for practicing dentistry without a license.

Dillard’s work with veneers isn’t the only thing that led law enforcement to him. According to WSB-TV’s Justin Gray, he was also offering courses and workshops so that other people could, presumably, become unlicensed dentists themselves. The cost for these events was, as per WSB-TV’s reporting, over $6,000 per attendee. This was not happening in a vacuum, either: Dillard had quite a following on social media, with the AP reporting that he had over 158,000 followers on Instagram.

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Veneers aren’t the only dental procedure that’s led to some ethical gray areas recently. Earlier this year, HuffPost’s Lauren Burwell pointed out that tooth whitening licensing requirements vary from state to state — which emphasizes the importance of knowing what the local regulations are in your area.

While much of the focus on dentistry-related scams relates to the actions of unlicensed dentists, there have also been cases of fully licensed dentists engaging in unethical behavior for financial gain. As with any medical procedure, it’s always important to read the fine print — and if something seems too good to be true, it’s worth looking a little more deeply.