'Horror' dentist on trial accused of mutilating patients in France



PARIS: -- A dentist is on trial in central France accused of mutilating dozens of his patients.

Dutchman Mark van Nierop is facing charges of intentional violence and fraud.

More than 50 patients had complaints such as having healthy teeth removed, pieces of tools left in their teeth, abscesses, recurrent infections and misshapen mouths.

“We are physically ruined because of the suffering and we are morally destroyed because we’ve been scammed on all aspects,” said patient Marie-Jo Lemoine. “We paid a lot of money to reach a point where we can’t even have the injuries repaired.”

“For my clients, we’re hoping for some sort of explanation about how Mr. Van Nierop was allowed to behave in this way for so long, how things became so serious,” said Charles-Joseph Oudin, a lawyer representing the “collectif dentaire,” an association representing 120 alleged victims. “Today we have no explanations. As part of the recovery process it is essential to first understand. Will he have regrets (from Van Nierop)? Will he show remorse? Perhaps. But we just want to understand.”

The trial is expected to last until March 18 with a ruling expected shortly after that.

If found guilty he could be fined up to 375,000 euros and sentenced to up to ten years in prison.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-03-09

“For my clients, we’re hoping for some sort of explanation about how Mr. Van Nierop was allowed to behave in this way for so long, how things became so serious,” said Charles-Joseph Oudin, a lawyer representing the “collectif dentaire,” an association representing 120 alleged victims. “Today we have no explanations. As part of the recovery process it is essential to first understand. Will he have regrets (from Van Nierop)? Will he show remorse? Perhaps. But we just want to understand.”

Hard to believe he was allowed to continue to carry on long enough to damage 120 patients without any sort of investigation earlier on.

He'll probably "have regrets" about being prosecuted, but that won't be much relief for those he (allegedly) mangled.

I can't help but wonder what it was that prompted this crook to go and ply his trade in France, rather than doing the same thing in his country of origin ... Maybe just a coincidence, maybe not. Maybe it's more difficult in Holland to get away with this kind of abuse for a long period of time ? Maybe French people are more gullible when it comes to dealing with doctors ? Or perhaps the very fact that he came from Holland gave him a special aura of seriousness in their eyes ? People from France and Southern Europe tend to consider that Northern Europeans are more 'serious' in general. It's a stereotype, of course, but like all stereotypes, not totally unfounded.

A Belgian dentist friend of mine once told me something that gave me the creeps : according to him, it is not uncommon, in that profession, for a practitioner to let the drill 'slip' a little on a tooth that's perfectly healthy while treating an actual problem nearby. The mistake is not felt by the patient, especially if he is sedated, and in time, it will produce a neat little cavity on the damaged tooth, bringing the patient back to his respected and trusted dentist ...

There's no reason to become paranoid after hearing this, but the fact that it was a dentist who told me makes it difficult to forget or discard. I asked other dentists about it of course, and they either laughed it away uneasily, or grumbled something indistinct ... only one got kind of angry and told me that his Belgian colleague should be thrown out of the profession for spreading such blatant slander. Go figure.

Is it safe?

I already hated to go to the dentist , thanks Yann55 ...now I dread it even more.

The dentist : torture that YOU pay for ( through the nose too).

A lot of crooks are in any field/occupation like in real life you meet strangers or "friends". Facts of life I guess.

I think he is finished as a dentist.

Wonder why he was working in France.

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by wabothai

Wonder why he was working in France.

The Dutch health inspection starting an investigation into him, which resulted in him moving to France before the investigation was completed. After he moved the investigation was not completed.

Recently there was also an investigation into his assisting his assisting his ex-wife with her suicide, but there was not sufficient proof.

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by stevenl

Wonder why he was working in France.

The Dutch health inspection starting an investigation into him, which resulted in him moving to France before the investigation was completed. After he moved the investigation was not completed.

Recently there was also an investigation into his assisting his assisting his ex-wife with her suicide, but there was not sufficient proof.

To go on with your post. After he created problems in France, he fled to Canada.

Canada deportedhim back to The Netherlands, and The Netherlands send him to France to face the music.

I hope he will spend a long time in jail in France.