A man has been accused of operating an illegal dentist's office in the kitchen of his suburban New York home and giving patients wine from a jug to help them cope with the pain.

Police arrested Carlos Flores on Tuesday night after raiding his home in Peekskill, about 72km north of midtown Manhattan.

They say they learned about the dental office when a man who went there for a toothache ended up hospitalised after Flores broke the tooth while trying to pull it out.

Police say Flores treated poor Hispanics. They say they seized a dentist's chair, drugs and bloodstained orthodontic equipment from his kitchen.

Flores has been charged with practising dentistry without a licence. He says he was a licensed orthodontist in his native Ecuador.

AP