Johor Waitress Fined RM8,816 For Pretending To Be A Dentist In Singapore
Siti Shahrima Abd Rahim taught herself by watching YouTube videos and provided dental services on Carousell.
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A Malaysian woman was fined for performing illegal dental procedures on customers in Singapore hotels.
Siti Shahrima Abd Rahim, 37, was fined S$2500 (RM8,816) by a district court on Monday (8 April).
She pleaded guilty to one count under the Dental Registration Act, with a second similar charge taken into consideration.
READ MORE: “Can We Have Her Number?”, KKM Takes Notice Of “Certified” Dentist Offering Braces For Cheap
READ MORE: Johor Man Loses All Remaining Teeth Due To Cheap And Badly Made Dentures
How did it start?
Siti, a part-time waitress at a hotel in Johor Baru, used to visit the dentist regularly in 2020 to maintain her braces.
However, she couldn’t go to her dental appointments when the movement control orders were imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She then learned how to perform procedures on her braces by watching YouTube videos.
Siti soon ventured into offering various dental services such as veneer whitening, tooth and braces whitening, and providing retainers on her Carousell account. Depending on the procedure, she would charge customers around S$650 (RM2,292) and S$700 (RM2,468).
She branded herself as a Malaysian dentist and would enter Singapore on short-term visit passes to provide illegal dental services in hotels under the Hilton brand.
Potential customers would contact her on Carousell or WhatsApp, and Siti would tell them where to meet a few days before the procedures.
In total, she provided composite veneers to about 20 customers, performed braces maintenance on about 10 customers, and provided cosmetic braces to at least one customer.
Throughout this scam, she was never registered as a dentist under Singapore’s Dental Registration Act and did not possess a valid practising certificate.
However, her sweet gig came apart after a dissatisfied customer reported her to the authorities.
How her gig came crashing down
In early January 2022, a Filipino woman came across Siti’s advertisement on Carousell and reached out to her for composite veneers.
Siti quoted the woman S$700 (RM2,468) to remove the existing veneers and install a new one. Siti said she was a Malaysian dentist who entered Singapore to attend to patients and customers.
The woman agreed to the price and was told to meet at the Conrad Centennial Hotel on 30 January 2022.
Once there, the woman was escorted by an unknown man to the hotel room where Siti told her to lie down on a sofa.
Siti placed a surgical drape on the woman, inserted a mouthpiece to keep the woman’s mouth open, and used an instrument purchased from Shopee to remove the old veneers.
The tool is allegedly similar to the types used for removing a person’s manicure. Siti then applied the new composite veneers to the customer’s teeth.
The next day, the woman realized she couldn’t floss her teeth since there was little to no space between them after applying the veneers.
When she texted Siti, Siti claimed she was under quarantine for Covid-19 and could not do anything about the new veneers.
The woman sent an email to the Ministry of Health about the incident.
A report by an independent dental expert stated that Siti used a non-professional instrument in her procedure, and the procedure performed could have caused the patient to require more complex procedures.
During mitigation, Siti said she wanted to return to Malaysia as soon as possible to celebrate Hari Raya.
She asked to pay her fine in instalments, saying she had borrowed money to pay a fine but would like to return to Malaysia to get more money. Siti eventually paid the fine in full.
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