'We wanted the holes to be repaired finally. We just decided to try it out.' Picture here and below: Maxim Kuzmin

Social media pictures show the bizarre way the road was mended in the capital of Altai region.

'There were no repairs on Zarinskaya Street, so we, the dentists of Barnaul, decided to help our road services and patched the potholes with plaster casts and models of teeth,' explained an announcement on Vkontake social media.

'There were no repairs on Zarinskaya Street, so we, the dentists of Barnaul, decided to help our road services.'

Dentist Maxim Kuzmin was aided by three lab assistants who claimed local repair services are toothless.

'We wanted the holes to be repaired finally. We just decided to try it out,' he said. 'It is an environmentally friendly product.

Dentist Maxim Kuzmin was aided by three lab assistants who claimed local repair services are toothless.

'The gypsum will turn to dust. The moulds harden and turn into dust. We crashed it all down and made sure that it would not cause any harm.'

The dentists had been gathering the casts for six months.