‘MAGA dentist’ faces backlash after TikTok remarks spark ethical concerns

'MAGA Dentist' faces backlash

A Santa Clarita dentist is facing backlash after a TikTok video surfaced in which she joked about treating patients differently based on their political views.

LOS ANGELES - A Santa Clarita dentist is facing backlash over comments she made in a TikTok video. 

What they're saying:

"So I have a secret hat I use sometimes that says ‘Make Your Smile Great Again’ so I wear that when I work on my patients. When they look horrified or complain, I quietly cut back on the laughing gas…and say ‘you got this, its not as bad as you think it is,'' Dr. Harleen Grewel said in the video. 

Grewel, a doctor at Skyline Smiles in Santa Clarita, is a self-proclaimed MAGA dentist who is now facing criticism after making comments about patients who don’t share her political views. 

Online the reaction has been swift. Some users say they’ve reported Dr. Grewal to the California Dental Board, while others have left reviews saying, "This doctor bragged on video that she treats patients differently based on their political views. This is not just unprofessional, it is unethical and scary."

'MAGA' dentist facing backlash

A Santa Clarita dentist is coming under fire for a recent TikTok video where she says she causes more pain for her patients if they are Democrats.

Dr. Grewel says she did nothing wrong, and it was simply a joke she cracked at a Republican roast speech two years ago. 

"I think America is a free country, it’s free speech. No-one is directly getting harmed from it. I'm making a joke. We all make jokes. I'm sure the democrats get in a room and make jokes about republicans too," Grewal said in response to the backlash. 

"People should take light of the situation, relax, chill, it’s not that big of a deal to just make a joke every now and then," she added.  

The other side:

"It’s not a joke, laughing about inflicting pain as a dentist is not a joke. We have communities that fear going to the dentist it can impact their health," stated Rebecca Hindman.

Hindman runs the page ‘Rise Up SCV’ and shared the video of Dr. Grewal’s remarks on Instagram. It quickly went viral. 

"She may have thought she was making a joke, but that’s representing herself and her business." 

Civil rights attorney James DeSimone says Dr. Grewal may have opened herself up to legal trouble, even if she says it was just a joke. 

"It is against the law to discriminate someone based on their political beliefs. When you have a dentist who says that she's deliberately treating you differently because of your political beliefs, there doesn't seem to be anything too funny about that," DeSimone told FOX 11.