Man allegedly posing as dentist faces charges

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A South Florida man accused of operating a dental office out of his home without a license is facing charges.

According to police, Humberto Perez, 81, along with his wife and daughter were arrested Wednesday morning for practicing dentistry work without a license out of his Little Havana home. They have since bonded out of jail.

Claribel Agramonte took her daughter to Perez to have a chipped tooth fixed and ended up leaving with an infection. Agramonte said her daughter would get teased in school. "The students would tease her because she had bad teeth," said Agramonte.

Perez fitted the victim with metal cap teeth. Agramonte said her daughter's gums were rotting. "It was black, it was black. It was like meat starting to rot. It smelled," she said.

According to police, Perez's home was a fully-functioning, fake dentist office squeezed in the back of his home. He sat patients in a barber's chair instead of a proper dentist's chair. "It's everything a dentist office should not be," said Miami Police Major David Magnusson.

Neighbors said there were always cars coming and going. "One day, I spoke to a woman who said, 'You're going to see a lot of cars come in and out,'" said a neighbor. "She said her daughter was a dentist."

The badly botched case caught police and the Florida Department of Health's attention after Agramonte complained. "The man dealt directly with the young girl who came here for some dental care and left horribly disfigured," said Magnusson.

After a full investigation, police arrested Perez, his wife Maria and their daughter. Boxes of hypodermic needles and Novocain were hauled out of Perez's home as evidence.

Perez is being charged with child abuse and practicing without a license.

The victim is now seeing a licensed doctor and will have to undergo several surgeries.

Authorities are not sure how many patients Perez treated. Officials are asking anyone who is a victim of this fake dentist should call the Florida Department of Health at 1-800-425-8852.

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