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Gwinnett man caused 'disfigurement' while practicing unlicensed dentistry, sheriff says

The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office said Friday it had arrested a man accused of performing dentistry without a license.

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — (Editor's note: The video above this article is from a story in 2019 which also involved alleged fraudulent dentistry.)

A man was arrested in Gwinnett County, the sheriff's office said, for practicing dentistry without a license and leaving some patients with "pain and disfigurement."

The sheriff's office said Friday it had arrested a man late last month after being reported for unlicensed dentistry.

RELATED: Unlicensed dentist left woman with 'irreparable damage' after botched root canal, police say

They said an investigation was started due to reports of the man "causing pain and disfigurement on individuals he performed procedures on."

The sheriff's office executed a search warrant at his home which they said "exposed evidence of dentistry and orthodontics procedures."

The Georgia Dentistry Board is assisting with the investigation.

Jail records show the man accused in the case was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail on Nov. 23 and released after seven hours on a $1,300 bond. He faces a single charge of practicing dentistry without a license.

In a similar case in Cobb County in 2019, police uncovered an illicit dentistry practice that had been in operation as far back as 2010 and left at least one woman with "irreparable damage to her tooth" following a botched root canal.

Two women were arrested in that case and given felony charges of practicing dentistry without a license. 

Back at that time, one metro Atlanta dentist told 11Alive that unlicensed dentists set up shop all across Metro Atlanta, targeting a lucrative market--immigrants afraid they have nowhere else to go.

“I absolutely see this, immigrants are in a bind as far as oral health care.” dentist Dr. Luis Limeres said.  "These clinics pop up, and they offer reduced prices, so it’s a sad place to be, but in desperation, this is where they get to.”

Dr. Limeres, in private practice, also works with Mercy Care, where dentists and physicians offer services, free. And he's trying to get the word out to everyone, including immigrants, that there’s no need to go to someone who is unlicensed.

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