Man selling clay dentures online calls petition 'cruel and unnecessary'

Gail Turner holds a partial set of dentures in Panama City, Fla., Aug. 26, 2014. (News Herald, Andrew Wardlow)

VANCOUVER -- A man accused of making false teeth from modelling clay says a petition filed against him by three dental regulatory organizations in British Columbia is cruel and unnecessary.

Matthew Block says in a B.C. Supreme Court document filed by his girlfriend that he has already informed the petitioners he will never again offer any dental-related services.

"Mr. Block has never lied to the petitioners or the courts. Therefore it is unreasonable to assume he will not keep his promises," Christina Taylor says in the response to the petition.

The College of Dental Surgeons of BC, College of Denturists of BC and the College of Dental Technicians of BC went to court last month in an effort to stop Block from profiting from the service that was advertised online.

Court documents alleged Block placed a Craigslist ad saying the false teeth he made were a "long-lasting, safe alternative" until customers could afford a dentist.

Each handmade tooth cost $100, according to copies of the ad filed with the petition.

Taylor said she placed the ad and that Block took it down 11 months before the petitioners contacted him.

"The petitioners wanted to publish Mr. Block's name on their website and Mr. Block felt that was unfair," she said.

Block said in an emailed response that he doesn't understand why an affidavit by a private investigator was filed 11 months after he was visited at his apartment.

Block says the ad was only on Craigslist for a short time.

"I, on my own accord, took it down because it was a stupid idea (of) my girlfriend to put the ad up without my knowledge or consent," he said in the email.

Block said he never actually made any false teeth.

An investigator named Michael Lantz, who was hired by the College of Dental Surgeons, says in the affidavit that he contacted Block in August 2015 before visiting him at his home in Richmond.

Lantz says he saw impression trays made of aluminum foil and that Block told him an artificial tooth could be made in his oven in about an hour.

Block told Lantz it would be no problem to fill two spaces where the investigator was missing teeth and that he'd also made a tooth for his girlfriend, who'd worn it for four years, the affidavit says.

Lantz says in the affidavit that he later learned the modelling clay is commonly used in arts and crafts, and that it's not recommended for anything that could come into contact with food or beverages.