Belgian prosecutors on Wednesday requested a five-year prison sentence, half of it suspended on probation, for the 72-year-old dentist Carl S. from Wilrijk accused of sexually abusing 73 female patients between 1995 and 2025.
The dentist performed a non-existent medical procedure on patients in which he forced his fingers down their throats.
The case started in 2024, as one of his patients suspected something was wrong with the procedure she got from S. Police launched an investigation based on the complaints and called other patients of S. to come forward.
S. performed what he described as a 'throat-disinfection' on his patients, in which he forced his fingers down their throats.
"He asked them to push their tongues down with a spatula so that he could reach deep into their throats with his fingers, causing many of them to retch," the lawyer of a group of victims told the court.
"Some of the women were also made to hold a torch. The victims were therefore forced to cooperate in their own rape and, on top of that, had to pay for it."
A 'throat-disinfection' is not an officially recognised procedure.
Other patients were exposed to rectal or vaginal examinations, which S. explained as necessary to perform a bone graft to restore the jawbone. Dentists are not allowed to perform such procedures.
Police found footage of S. masturbating while performing the sexual abuse. He admitted to having a sexual fetish for throats and to performing the procedures with sexual motives.
