In Marseille, whole families have lost their smile. For a moving incisor, Aklim went ten years ago to a dentist in the city, Dr Lionel Guedj. It is there, in the chair, that nothing goes as planned.

“He told me that the teeth were damaged, that they were going to come loose, all that, ‘I’m going to do a job for you’ but he didn’t explain to me what, I let it be done. He started to devitalize all of my teeth. Everything has been pulled out, I have no more teeth. I’m ashamed, but it’s not beautiful, he plucked me ” describes Aklim.

Like him, more than 400 residents of the northern districts of Marseille are suing the former practitioner, now struck off the order of dental surgeons.

Millions of euros in revenue

Almost 3 million euros in fees in 2010: it is the income of the dentist, the highest in France, which alerted the Health Insurance. According to the investigation report, Lionel Guedj billed 28 times more crowns than the average.

“The fact of not only performing invasive, mutilating medical acts was set up as a system, all of this was truly a form of looting, but on people’s bodies” deplores Me Lionel Febbraro.

To speed up a procedure that has lasted for nearly 10 years, the lawyer is now bringing the case before the European Court of Human Rights. In Marseille, the trial should be held in 2022. A tailor-made courtroom must be set up to accommodate the 450 civil parties and their lawyers.