Baba Gurdeep Singh is a well known roadside dentist of Amritsar. Hailing from Village Kallah, near the historical Naurangabad Village, district Tarn Taran, Punjab, he learnt the craft of making dental cement teeth from him paternal uncle at the age of 15. At the age of 65, he is the fourth generation in this work and has also trained his sons. He, along with a couple of his helpers fixes people’s dental problems using desi treatment for a small fee. He considers it his sewa to treat people who cannot afford expensive dental treatments, and makes enough to pay his employees Re.200 -400/- and for his basic household expenses. His two shops are run by his sons while he continues to treat people on the roadside. He treats people for all kinds of dental ailments and also fixes bridges and dentures, which are fixed with a soft pink adhesive. His stock consists of desi medicines and all shapes and shades of artificial teeth. The tools are thoroughly washed but not sterilized.

During Covid pandemic he had to stop fixing of teeth and other treatments but continued to provide medicines.

With his wooden stool, mirror and cases of teeth on display, Gurdeep Singh is among hundreds of such dentists frowned upon by their licenced counterparts. But the 65-year-old insists he is providing an essential service to tens of millions of poor who cannot afford a visit to a sterilised clinic.