Julian Saldarriaga, 60, has been also been accused of using dental equipment without a license and advertising himself as a dentist.
Police were tipped off by a former patient of Mr. Saldarriaga, who claimed the dentures the phony dentist provided caused her to develop oral cancer.
Mr. Saldarriaga operated out of J&D Dental Laboratory. The former patient said she had been visiting the dental lab since 2009 for denture repairs. She discovered J&D Dental Laboratory from an advertisement at an age-55-and-older community, reports the Miami Herald.
After getting new dentures in 2018, the patient said she noticed sores in her mouth. She visited a dentist who diagnosed her with stage 3 cancer.
This is not Mr. Saldarriaga’s first time being accused of practicing dentistry without a license. He was charged in 2001, and the case was later dropped after a pretrial diversion program, the Miami Herald reports.
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