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Daatun

India Street Dentists

By Marcela Angeles Photography

Daatun is a twig from a tree called neem and it is believed to have medical properties. In some parts of Asia, it is a substitute for a toothbrush and toothpaste.

In India, street dentists still exist and have patients with very low incomes, with no access to medical health, and that are illiterate. They do fixed and removable dentures with the wrong materials, they prescribe expired drugs for pain and practice extremely dangerous procedures, like extractions, in the most anti hygienic situations, putting the patients in danger of contracting hepatitis, cancer or aids. This series is an exploration on how habits, religion, tradition, poverty and education affect dental health in Varanasi, India and how the street dentists will still be around for a while.

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Ganes, street dentist in India. Ganes 32, learned the trade of being a “Street Dentist “ as a child by watching his father Babaji ( Old wise and holy ) working on the streets of Varanasi, India at the Godowlia Market, where he sat for more than 60 years. After his father passed away, Ganes took his place between the fabric and the discount shoe store sitting on top of a couple of bricks next to the drain with stagnant water due to garbage, and next to the cows, bulls, goats and dogs that roam the streets.

He never had proper medical training and neither him nor his patients believe that he needs it. For both, his job is considered a community service for thousands of people who cannot afford decent health services. Every day he arrives and stands barefoot on his spot. As long as the cops don´t show up to shoo away all the illegal street vendors, he will work until nighttime.

Ganes, like the other “quacks” (the term certified dentists call the street dentists), has a very busy day attending up to 30 patients. His job consists of applying fixed and temporary dentures with inadequate materials, prescribing outdated pain medication and practicing extremely dangerous procedures, such as extractions and injections in the most unsanitary conditions you would ever want to be in when going to the dentist. When he approaches pedestrians, Ganes asks them to open their mouths to make his diagnosis. He uses his hands and rusty tools that have not only been in the mouths of other patients, but on the floor, in contact with money and surrounded by flies. Most of his clients arrive with terrible tooth pain, but no matter what the problem is, he has the same solution for almost everyone for a pretty good deal: A denture that he applies without cleaning the infection or caring that it will live on top of a rotten tooth.

In the afternoons, his 13-year-old nephew arrives after school to work as his assistant. He is responsible for bringing the tea and finding the best fit for each patient´s denture among the collection of false teeth, trying each one after another in their mouths. When he finally finds it, he puts the rest of them back in the box to try to match them with the other patients. Later, patients will realize that going to their local street dentist might get them infections and diseases such as hepatitis, AIDS and oral cancer. However, at the end of the day, they go happy with their brand new smile and Ganes goes home with $100 dollars more in his pocket (6000 rupees). The day wraps up with his assistant “cleaning“ the floor a little bit so there is no trace of all patients who spit there earlier, putting the “dental products“ back in the fabric store and soaking the tools in a green plastic bucket to have them ready again for the next day.