Sir, we write to bring to your attention an alarming trend of underground dentistry being promoted on social media. Calling themselves ‘veneer techs', these are non-dentally qualified people who have completed a course between 12 hours and two days at a cost of up to $6,000 to gain a certificate in providing ‘veneers'. Said courses are teaching composite bonding techniques without respect to the underlying dentition or periodontium. These people are, inappropriately, being encouraged to prepare the teeth with a drill under the guise of quick earnings.

A brief investigation on TikTok reveals such providers as having over 40k followers; they demonstrate the treatment and their ‘clients' before and after the process. Before, we see vast evidence of periodontal disease and caries and afterwards, such disease is masked by layer upon layer of composite with clearly no consideration of the underlying foundations. The professional status of providers is often vague or not mentioned on their websites and social media, likely leaving many ‘clients' fooled into believing they were seen by a qualified professional. In other examples, we see treatment being carried out at providers' homes or at aesthetic clinics with no dental professionals on site.

This is concerning to see, and we worry that this trend in the US may spread to the UK. It seems that dental aesthetic treatment in the UK may be on a perfect trajectory to flirt with so-called ‘veneer techs', since the provision of whitening by non-dentally qualified aestheticians has already been raised as a concern in the dental profession.1 The General Dental Council (GDC) express that ‘It is a criminal offence for a person who is not a registered dentist or a registered dental care professional to practise dentistry'.2 Hence, there is hope that the legislation of the Dentists Act 1984 and regulation of the GDC will provide the legal basis to target this practice should it begin in the UK. Should general dentists hear of a spread of this trend to their area, it is our recommendation to report this illegal practice to the GDC.3 Additionally, protecting patients by providing adequate advice and information is crucial to help avoid a national dental health catastrophe.