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The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

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The Scary Truth Behind Unlicensed Activity

By Florida Department of Health, Office of Communications

October 31, 2014

Frightening faces and scary places lead to unlicensed activity cases. Scary faces are not just found at Halloween—they are real nightmares for people who have been taken in by fake health care practitioners.

Planning to get a quick dental checkup while you’re shopping at the mall? Be wary, unlicensed dental work is often found at warehouses and strip malls and can lead to serious health complications. Many victims of unlicensed dental work lose their teeth and end up with dentures.

Colored contact lenses add a scary element to a Halloween costume, especially when you realize the risk of infection. Stick with latex masks or face paints for a safe, scary look. Contact lenses can only be dispensed in a licensed optical establishment and/or by a licensed optician or physician.

Unlicensed individuals operate out of strip malls, beauty shops, warehouses, storage facilities and even their own garages. They are willing to inject all sorts of products, either made for human use or not, with instruments unlikely to have been cleaned and maintained at the level required of doctors and other health care professionals. Your discount from the woman at the flea market may cost you permanent disfigurement and a lifetime of pain, or even death.

The Department of Health’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance investigates unlicensed activity.

Check to see if your doctor, dentist, optometrist or any other health care provider is licensed by searching for his license at www.FlHealthSource.gov. If not, you can file a complaint and MQA will investigate. Don’t leave unlicensed practitioners in place and cause someone else’s horror story to come true.

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