On February 12, 2026, the Debrecen Regional Court, acting as a court of second instance, delivered its ruling at a public hearing in the case of two defendants who carried out dental procedures on two victims without holding dental qualifications.
The Debrecen District Court, acting at first instance, had previously delivered its judgment at a public hearing on March 12, 2025, finding both defendants guilty on two counts of quackery. The first defendant was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment, suspended for a probationary period of two years, fined HUF 336,000, and banned from practicing dental activities for five years. The second defendant was fined HUF 560,000. The prosecutor accepted the ruling, while the defendants and their defense attorneys appealed, bringing the case before the Debrecen Regional Court.
The Regional Court determined that, based on the statutory definition of the offense, the act of quackery constitutes a single offense regardless of how many individuals are affected by the unauthorized activity. Accordingly, it amended the legal classification and found the defendants guilty on one count of quackery instead of two. In all other respects, it upheld the suspended prison sentence, the fines, and the five-year ban on dental practice imposed on the first defendant. The court stated that the first-instance court had properly assessed both mitigating and aggravating circumstances and found no grounds for imposing lighter sentences. The ruling is final.
According to the facts established in the judgment, one of the victims, who lives abroad, was staying in Hungary in July 2021 when she developed dental problems and visited a dental laboratory. A woman working there as a technician, falsely presenting herself as a dentist, examined the patient and told her that several of her teeth needed to be extracted. She agreed to perform the procedure the following day at a clinic in Hajdú-Bihar County.
When the victim arrived the next morning, both defendants were present. A retired man with a dental qualification, falsely presenting himself as a practicing dentist, examined the woman, who consented to the extraction. After administering anesthetic injections, the man removed seven of her teeth, for which she paid nearly HUF 60,000.
In August 2021, the victim’s son complained of a toothache. When his mother returned to the clinic for a fitting of her dental prosthesis, her son accompanied her. The woman, again pretending to have professional expertise, examined the young victim’s teeth and, without further tests, stated that four of them could not be saved and needed to be extracted.
On the morning of August 24, 2021, the victims returned to the clinic, where the man administered anesthetic injections and began extracting the teeth. However, the second tooth broke off in the patient’s jaw, and the procedure was discontinued. Due to severe pain, the victim later sought treatment from a specialist and at an oral surgery clinic, where he received proper care.
The defendants carried out the procedures on the victims without holding valid dental qualifications.
(Debrecen Court)
