A dental lab technician in Changhua County was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison, after he was caught for the third time operating a dental clinic without a medical license.

In addition, the Changhua District Court ordered the confiscation of some NT$25 million (US$835,020) in earnings that the defendant, surnamed Yang (?), had made from his illegal work at the clinic.

In its verdict, the court said that in 2016, Yang purchased dental instruments, a dental chair and various types of medicine, then he proceeded to set up a dental practice on Xilin Road in the county’s Pitou Township.

At the clinic, Yang was offering a range of services, including cavity repair and fillings, fabrication and fitting of dentures, and root canals, even though he was only a dental lab technician and not a trained and licensed dentist, the court said.

After Yang was reported to the county’s Public Health Bureau in March this year, investigators discovered that he had been prosecuted previously, in 1998 and 2007, for operating illegal dental clinics, but in both instances he had received a suspended sentence, the court said.

In imposing its seven-month prison sentence on Thursday, the court said Yang had not been forthcoming about his earnings from the illegal dental clinic, but a search of his house turned up his accounts, which showed an income of about NT$25 million.

Yang’s recidivism was proof that he had not learned a lesson from his previous convictions, thus he was sentenced this time to seven months in prison and confiscation of the NT$25 million in illegal gains, the court said in its ruling, which can still be appealed.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel