Hyderabad: In a bid to cure tooth decay, quacks in places like Marredpally, Kukatpally and also in the old city areas, use smoke therapy, thereby fooling hundreds of patients, say dentists who get a lot of patients with gum ulcers.
These people operate clandestinely and patients, who undergo this treatment, acquire ulcers of the gum. In order to save money, they fall in the traps of quacks who claim that the tooth decay is due to worms.
However, this can’t be true because bacteria can’t be seen with the naked eye and do not turn into worms. But the gullible patients have smoke from agarbattis put in their mouths and they claim that they have got relief from pain and that the tooth is fine. However, the relief, at best, is temporary.
Dr K. Srinivas of Ameerpet says, “When we found this we asked the patients to complain to the Dental Council of India. They have initiated action but could not find the quacks. Hence no police case was registered.”
Dentists claim that toothaches can’t be cured with smoke therapy and it is important for people to not opt for such quackery as they end up complicating the issue further.
