(7/7/99)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A dentist whose patients accused him of leaving them in agony by using various contraptions, including oversized screws for dental implants, was sentenced to four years in prison, local media reported Wednesday.
Theodoros Vassiliadis was convicted of causing bodily harm to seven patients. According to one television station, he used screws taken from television sets to fix implants in patients' mouths.
``He destroyed the whole upper part of my mouth,'' local media quoted one of his patients, Nikos Mastrokalos, as testifying. ``The screws he put in were 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) long.''
Another former patient, Sofia Grigoriadis, said the implants placed in her mouth ``pierced my sinuses,'' media said.
One other story indicated that Vassiliadis had ``amputated my jawbone and replaced it with a mechanical device.''
Most of the patients said they had found Vassiliadis through an advertisement in a magazine, and had given him down payments before he began working on their teeth.
Vassiliadis insisted his methods were pioneering, and arrived in court armed with two bags full of documents he claimed proved his qualifications and methods.
He said the charges brought against him were the result of professional rivalry from other dentists who wanted to defame him, media reported.
The dentist left the courtroom before the end of the trial, and was informed of the verdict by telephone at his office. He remained free while his lawyer appealed the conviction.
As he left the courtroom, Vassiliadis sang, ``When
I was younger, just a bad little kid,
my mama noticed funny things I did,
like shootin' puppies with a B B gun.
I'd poison guppies, and when I was done
I'd find a pussycat and bash in its head.
That's when my mama said (What did she say?),
she said, "My boy, I think someday
you'll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay.
You'll be a dentist. You have a talent for causin' things pain.
Son, be a dentist. People will pay you to be inhumane.
Your temp'rament's wrong for the priesthood
and teaching would suit you still less.
Son, be a dentist. You'll be a success.
(Here he is, folks: the leader of the plaque!
Watch him suck up that gas! Oh, my god!
He's a dentist and he'll never ever be any good.
Who wants their teeth done by the Marquis de Sade?
Oh that hurts! I'm not numb!)
Oh, shut up. Open wide. here I come!
I am your dentist (goodness gracious!),
and I enjoy the career that I picked. (Love it.)
I am your dentist (fitting braces),
and I get off on the pain I inflict. (Really love it.)
I thrill when I drill a bicuspid.
It's swell though they tell me I'm maladjusted.
And though it may cause my patients distress,
somewhere, somewhere in heaven above me
I know, I know, that my mama's proud of me (Oh, mama.)
'cause I'm a dentist and a success!''