CHARLOTTE—The need for dental care is in demand across North Carolina and many families who can't afford it are seeking illegal alternatives that could be dangerous.
The NC Dental Board finds about a dozen illegal dental clinics a year, including one in Charlotte just days ago. Susana Peralta is out on bond after she was caught offering dental care illegally last week. Her case is one of many the state dental board investigates each year.
"Enough for us to look into them regularly I'd say," said Bobby White, the chief operations officer of the North Carolina state board of dental examiners.
White says his board finds 10 to 12 illegal dentistries a year.
"We find a lot of these unauthorized dentists or sometimes dentists from other countries that come here and don't meet the standards of American dentistry in terms of infection control sterilization," said White.
He said those at-home dental clinics can be dangerous, but some people are desperate.
"Resources are at capacity for dental care throughout the county," said Tamara Withers-Thompson, a nurse at the Charlotte Community Health Clinic.
She sees the need for dental care every day.
It's a service she says many can't afford, but she says turning to illegal clinics can make things worse.
"They're not getting care or they're getting care that's going to cause them to get more care which is going to be even more expensive than had they been able to afford a true dentist at the time of care," said Withers-Thompson.
She hopes more dentists will donate their services to those in need to prevent those illegal clinics from popping up and putting others at risk.