Perhaps he misunderstood the meaning of the word "practice."
A Chicago man is accused of setting up a makeshift dental office on the Southwest Side and performing dental work on willing patients.
Francisco Rendon, 49, was arrested Thursday and charged with misdemeanor providing medical service without a license, police Cmdr. David Jarmusz said.
According to a report, Rendon rented a room in the 3700 block of South California Avenue in the Brighton Park neighborhood and kept syringes, painkillers and dentures and used something similar to a power tool usually used for polishing metal on his patients.
Some patients might have been suspicious considering when they were being cared for they sat in a leather office seat instead of a reclining dentist’s chair and had to spit into a garbage can instead of a sink.
Despite the makeshift office, Rendon told police he had a dentist license from Mexico.
It’s obvious unlicensed dentists pose a threat to consumers.
Unlike an unlicensed home contractor, who might damage property, an unlicensed dentist might be dangerous to a patient’s health, said Susan Hofer, a spokesperson for the state department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Hofer told the Chicago Tribune that the department has received 30 complaints concerning unlicensed dentistry in the past 16 months.
