The Dentist of Horror is behind bars. Many people loathe the dentist – even experiencing acute horror at the notion of metal tools picking around on molars and of course, that awful drilling noise. But Jacobus van Nierop is undoubtedly the apex abhorrence of those who suffer from odontophobia, aka freaking out at going to the dentist.
This teeth gritting tale ends with a prison sentence however. The Dutch dentist just completed a highly publicized trial after being accused of “mutilating” hundreds of patients by ripping out healthy teeth and leaving them with horrific injuries.
According to BBC News UK on April 26, Jacobus van Nierop, 51, dubbed the “Dentist of Horror” by the French media, “took pleasure” in causing horrific injuries while he worked on patients in the small central town of Chateau-Chinon, where medical and dental services were lacking in the community. He was sentenced to eight years in jail and fined the equivalent of $11,900.
According to a March report from BBC News, van Nierop faced assault and fraud charges and up to a decade behind bars. He was accused of “mutilating” the mouths of some 120 patients. In 2014, when the allegations came to light, van Nierop fled to Canada and “strongly fought against extradition to France.” Van Nierop testified he suffers from “psychological problems,” as well as “gender identity issues and suicidal thoughts.”
Patients testified against the dentist and recounted awful stories of abuse.
Sylviane Boulesteix, 65, said that in 2012, she went to see van Nierop to be fitted for braces. She testified: “He gave me seven or eight injections, and pulled out eight teeth in one go. I was gushing blood for three days.” Another patient said the dentist left “pieces of flesh hanging everywhere,” said an 80-year-old victim.
Nicole Martin, a retired teacher who lost several teeth from horrific operations, said van Nierop would give her a “a little prick and we were asleep, knocked out,” she said, adding that “when it was over, we would find a Post-it note saying to come back for an appointment the next day or the day after.”
Local media is reporting that when police arrived to arrest van Nierop, he tried to slit his own throat.
“He claimed to have killed his first wife, he played crazy, he said he was trans-sexual,” Martin said. “He tried everything’ to avoid extradition.”
The dentist “pulled out healthy teeth, broke patients’ jaws, and caused abscesses and blood poisoning in often unnecessary and painful procedures, judges were told during his trial in March,” reports The Guardian. He is barred from ever practicing dentistry again.
