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.

Euronews