{"id":36265,"date":"2025-09-22T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/36265\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T07:32:08","slug":"unlicensed-west-auckland-dentist-narayan-prasad-treated-500-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/36265\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlicensed West Auckland dentist Narayan Prasad treated 500 patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prasad was sentenced on Ministry of Health<\/a> charges linked to him operating as an unlicensed dentist in March, but details of what happened weren\u2019t able to be reported on until now.<\/p>\n

Fillings all fell out<\/p>\n

According to sentencing notes, the patient was one of five people who provided victim impact statements for the sentencing.<\/p>\n

One described how Prasad had failed to make the connection that her disintegrating jawbone was the result of diabetes.<\/p>\n

Another had had a root canal, but then needed his tooth replaced because of the poor preparation, while another patient\u2019s fillings all fell out.<\/p>\n

\"UnlicensedUnlicensed dentist Narayan Prasad was sentenced in the Wait\u0101kere District Court after performing dental procedures on about 500 patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could not have been a pleasant experience,\u201d Judge Terence Singh said during sentencing in the Wait\u0101kere District Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prasad was the sole director and shareholder of the Henderson dental practice.<\/p>\n

Judge Singh said an aggravating feature was that he willingly saw and treated patients who believed he was a registered dentist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not just a momentary wrong but a sustained course of conduct,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Judge Singh said the risk posed to public health and the abuse of trust were \u201csignificant factors\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said in the three years ending in September 2022 Prasad repeatedly implied to patients that he was a dentist, performed dental procedures <\/a>which only a dentist was authorised to perform, issued prescriptions and performed X-rays without the necessary use licence. <\/p>\n

He admitted four representative charges of breaching the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act.<\/p>\n

He also admitted three representative charges of performing dental procedures without being a health practitioner<\/a> permitted to perform the activity, and one representative charge of forgery for issuing prescriptions which falsely listed a doctor as the issuer. <\/p>\n

He also admitted a representative charge of performing X-rays without the necessary licence and one representative Crimes Act charge for failing to discharge a legal duty when providing surgical or medical treatment to a reasonable knowledge skill and care.<\/p>\n

Prasad was sentenced to three months\u2019 community detention when he faced fines of up to $100,000 and up to a year in prison.<\/p>\n

He had sought a discharge without conviction, which the prosecution opposed.<\/p>\n

In declining the application, Judge Singh said the consequences of a conviction did not outweigh the gravity of the offending.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, there is a margin between the two in my view. I do not consider it a close thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A gross breach of trust against the patients <\/p>\n

Judge Singh said that in terms of type, circumstances and number of victims, a large number were under the impression that Prasad was a dentist who offered a variety of regulated treatments.<\/p>\n

The patient whose fillings all fell out, considered Prasad\u2019s actions were a \u201cgross breach of trust against the patients and the wider public\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the trust he had held for health professionals for many years was now \u201cconsigned to the past\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ministry said Prasad\u2019s motivation was financial, not the care for his patients, who apparently had no other alternative at the time. <\/p>\n

It said that initially, there was no reason to suggest that Prasad was not a registered dentist. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe presented himself that way and there were GrabOne vouchers which would have had a sense of credibility about them for people that were obtaining them to have work done,\u201d Judge Singh said.<\/p>\n

The ministry asked the court to consider the offending as moderately serious, because it had included him impersonating a doctor to prescribe medication, thereby posing a risk to those patients.<\/p>\n

Prasad received discount for his guilty pleas, remorse, his otherwise good character and community initiatives and donations.<\/p>\n

Judge Singh also acknowledged the counselling he was receiving, and his declining health.<\/p>\n

As well as community detention, Prasad was ordered to pay $15,950 in reparation to 28 victims.<\/p>\n

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ\u2019s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prasad was sentenced on Ministry of Health charges linked to him operating as an unlicensed dentist in March,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7615,51,22404,33606,1359,31787,2353,33527,33609,6451,33607,111,43,139,69,6293,4056,33608,14904,2687,6110,23505,33605,22187,3807,6923,14905],"class_list":["post-36265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-7615","tag-auckland","tag-bizarre","tag-dentist","tag-described","tag-doing","tag-drilling","tag-encounters","tag-imposter","tag-knew","tag-narayan","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-patients","tag-person","tag-prasad","tag-questioned","tag-saying","tag-teeth","tag-treated","tag-unlicensed","tag-unusual","tag-west","tag-what","tag-whether"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}