CATEGORY 116 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST Indonesia’s street dentists – cheap and dangerous By Joakim Rådström, Freelance journalist DENTISTRY AROUND THE WORLD For many of the world’s poor, quali ed dental care is often a luxury that they can never a ord. Unquali ed so-called “street dentists” then become an attractive alternative. But too often the treatments are harmful and in the long run become much more expensive for the patient. Virginia Della Yolanda in Jakarta, Indonesia, tells her story. Bikin Gigi Palsu, “denture production”, reads the sign, which is also illustrated with a cheerfully open comic book mouth. In each direction around, Jakarta’s bustling, poor neighborhoods spread out, with simple street food stalls serving fried nasi lemak, small workshops for mobile phone repairs, taxi stands for cheap moped transport, kiosks selling strong kretek cigarettes and much more. Overall, the metropolitan region around Jakarta is estimated to hold an incredible 30 million people. Every day, new crowds of people arrive with the hope of making their fortune right here. Where education, experience and capital are not enough, necessity becomes the mother of invention in a very tangible way. As in the case of the many unauthorized dental clinics in the city. Or as for Virginia Della Yolanda, 23 years old, who is trying to make her way in Indonesia’s tough lm industry, as a casting worker for advertising lms. And who, in order to stand out in the competition in the media world, also had a number of aesthetic procedures done by just such a so-called tukang gigi, or “street dentist”. I’ve been to three di erent street dentists, says Virginia Della Yolanda when we meet her at the authorized dental clinic MHDC Medikids in the a uent Jakarta area of Green Terrace. With the rst one, she had braces put in, which she wore for four years without experiencing any improvement at all in terms of the positioning of her teeth. Still unhappy with her teeth, she instead read about veneers, which she now wanted to have put in. Since it is considered an aesthetic treatment, Della could not receive any government reimbursement for such a procedure. And I couldn’t a ord professional private clinics, so that’s why I went to a street dentist, says Della. is particular clinic had also been recommended by a famous person, which led many young people to seek it out – even though the dentist in question lacked actual dental credentials. e procedure there was also relatively cheap, but the veneers only lasted about two years. After that, I wanted to have the veneers redone, but at another dentist. But now they fell o after just a month, and my teeth also started to hurt badly, says Virginia Della Yolanda. Doctor Muna Ali is the founder and director of Medikids, and explains in more detail what had happened. Before placing veneers, you usually need to treat the underlying surfaces, but if you go too hard, your teeth can become sensitive. e local dentist removed too much enamel, exposing the dentin, she says. By now, the many visits to various street dentists had only led to expenses and damaged teeth for Della. Desperately, she searched for ways to remedy the situation, eventually nding her way to the social media channel KorTuGi. KorTuGi stands for Korban Tukang Gigi, which is Indonesian for “victims of dental workers”. e initiative was started in 2016 by media-engaged dentist Rifqie Al Haris, who has since shared hundreds of photos and videos across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube of patients who have been harmed at the hands of street dentists. Much of the footage is quite tough to watch. KorTuGi, in turn, has a partnership with Medikids, which regularly selects patients who have su ered from medical Virginia Della Yolanda
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