Fake dentist gets suspended sentence

DAWLISH, England, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A bogus dentist who made an estimated $306,060 on homemade dentures produced in his home in Dawlish, England, received a suspended jail term.

Stephen Sickelmore, 52, is suspected of giving 168 patients false teeth that cost as much as $2,142 a set, The Sun reported.

However, the teeth Sickelmore sold out of his Denture Clinic often fell out of patients' mouths or became chipped, leaving many patients in pain, officials said.

Sickelmore did an apprenticeship as a dental technician but his qualifications have since expired, officials said. In 2008, he was given a warning by the British Dental Council, but he continued to make dentures.

On Friday, Judge Graham Cottle sentenced Sickelmore to nine months in jail, but suspended the sentence for two years. Sickelmore previously pleaded guilty to three charges of operating as a bogus dentist.

"You took money from vulnerable people who you supplied with poorly made dentures," Cottle said. "The photographs taken at your home show a deeply unhygienic mess."