S$5,000 fine for woman who provided unauthorised dental services at Far East Plaza salon, at home

SINGAPORE: After learning how to fix dental veneers from her former employer, Ding Zhiyan started her own salon at Far East Plaza and provided these services between 2022 and 2023.

In one instance, she fixed her customer's veneer in her home after the veneer dislodged a day after she installed it. A dental veneer is a thin layer of material placed over a tooth.

On Tuesday (May 14), the 37-year-old Chinese national pleaded guilty to two counts of practising dentistry despite not being a registered dentist. She was fined S$5,000 (US$3,700).

Another four similar charges were taken into consideration.

FIXED DENTAL VENEER IN HER HOME

Ministry of Health prosecutor Tan Luoyi told the court Ding, who is in Singapore on an S Pass, had learnt how to provide dental veneer services from her former employer at a salon in Bugis sometime in 2020 and would provide the services.

She left the salon in February 2022, before setting up her own business at Far East Plaza along Scotts Road in May 2022.

To provide dental veneer services, Ding purchased her equipment and supplies from e-commerce platform Taobao for 2,000 yuan (US$276).

Ms Tan said as part of the veneer fixing service, Ding would check if customers had cleaned their mouths.

Then she would ask her customers to rest on a bed or sofa, clean their teeth, and file them to remove any plaque.

After ensuring their teeth were clean, Ding would apply adhesive gel on the teeth before adjusting the dental veneers in place.

Ding would then apply another gel to protect her customers' gums before shining UV light to harden the adhesive.

Ms Tan told the court that on May 13, 2022 at about 2.33pm, Ding was informed that three dental veneers she installed on a customer in March 2022 had fallen off. 

Ding then arranged to meet the customer two days later at her salon, and fixed them for S$100.

Later that year on Dec 10, Ding performed her dental veneer service on another customer.

However, the dental veneers dislodged, and the customer complained. Ding arranged to meet the customer at her home in Bukit Merah the next day.

There, Ding fixed the tooth during a 30-minute procedure for no charge as it was a "form of service recovery", said Ms Tan.

The prosecution sought a S$2,500 fine for each charge Ding pleaded guilty to. This took into account the fact that Ding had fully cooperated with the authorities during investigations and had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

Ms Tan added that Ding has not had any brushes with the law previously.

Ding asked for a low fine amount as her mother has cancer and she needed money for medical expenses.

In her brief sentencing remarks, District Judge Lorraine Ho acknowledged that no actual harm was caused to Ding's customers "thankfully" — although they needed "some touch up".

For practising dentistry without a practising certificate and not being a registered dentist, Ding could have been fined up to S$25,000.

This article was originally published in TODAY.