A woman who came close to losing all her front teeth has spoken out about the dangers of using a dentist for orthodontic work.
She's too embarrassed to be named or shown, but wanted to add her voice to Kiwi orthodontists urging the public to be vigilant about who is working on your teeth.
A dentist promised her they could straighten her teeth fast and cheap, but it was anything but.
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"Every day when I try and eat, I am reminded of this - every day when I look in the mirror," she said. "I never imagined it could affect me for the rest of my life."
For two painstaking years she underwent treatment, but when they took the braces off, "within two days the teeth were starting to move".
Her gut told her something was wrong, so she went looking for answers and found Dr Rachel Smith, an orthodontist who told her she was in danger of losing her eight front teeth.
Dr Smith says the work should have been done by an orthodontist, as they study for an additional three years.
"You wouldn't see your GP to get your heart surgery done; orthodontics should be done by orthodontists."
Legally, dentists can't call themselves orthodontists, but they can practice and advertise orthodontic work, refer to themselves as "ortho-dentists" or even say they have a 'special interest in orthodontics'.
Dentist Mike Black does this, and says ultimately, it's not a concern.
"Personally I find we have no confusion."
But in the next breath he conceded some of his patients do get confused.
"They know I'm a general dentist [but] they still refer to me as their orthodontist, and I tell them, 'Woah, woah, woah, I'm just your local dentist'. So the term is used quite loosely."
The Dental Council says they looked into these concerns in 2015, but a working group found no evidence of widespread harm or risk to patients, and didn't consider it necessary to make changes to limit a scope of a dentists' practice.
Dr Smith says she is seeing an increasing number of issues that need fixing, and that the complaint numbers are low because people are too embarrassed to complain.
"I've never laid a complaint because I feel really emotionally worn down by the whole situation," said the patient Newshub spoke to.
Sharing her experience with the public is her last attempt to make it count for something.
Newshub.
