A dentist who left a woman unable to eat or speak properly and another patient "looking like a horse" has been struck off.

Dirk van Moerbeke, who practised in Bexhill and Eastbourne, left patients with thousands of pounds worth of repair bills after giving them badly fitting dentures and crowns.

He also made false claims on the NHS for treatment.

When patients tried to complain, the Belgian doctor, who lives in Eastbourne, either ignored them or was "rude and brusque".

Fifteen patients complained to the General Dental Council (GDC) after treatment at either the Apple Dental Surgery in Milfoil Drive, Eastbourne, or Silk Dental Practice in Ninfield Road, Bexhill.

The GDC found van Moerbeke guilty of serious professional misconduct.

The panel heard from retired school teacher Zelda Hamilton-Smith.

The 63-year-old, of Whitehouse Avenue, Bexhill, said: "I spent £685 on a set of dentures I could not wear and I don't think I will ever get my money back.

"He told me my old dentures made me look like a horse and my teeth were like a piano keyboard because they were very straight. One of the assistants said I looked like a clown.

"So I asked if he could make me a nicer set of dentures but when I got them I couldn't eat with them and I couldn't speak properly.

"When I went back to him to complain he was rude and brusque and told me to leave because I was upsetting him."

Van Moerbeke's treatment of another patient Ian Message, a mechanic from Eastbourne, was said to be "seriously sub-standard". Mr Message had a crown fitted but it fell out 14 times, including once at a wedding.

Another woman, known as patient G, told the hearing how six veneers fitted by van Moerbeke in May 2003 "looked awful and made me look like a horse".

GDC Chairman Gill Madden told van Moerbeke: "The committee has found you acted dishonestly and without due care for the interests of your patients.

"Additionally, the evidence demonstrated clear failings in your clinical practice and in your attitude towards your patients.

"Accordingly, the committee has determined that the only appropriate sanction in this case is erasure."

Van Moerbeke, who registered as a dentist in Brussels in 1977, was formally suspended from his position at the Silk Dental Practice and Apple Dental Surgery by the Bexhill and Rother Primary Care Trust, in March 2004.

The dentist, who had worked in the UK since June 1997, admitted a number of the charges, including that he was rude to the patients.

But he denied his fee claims to the Dental Practice Board were dishonest, though in some cases he has admitted they were inappropriate.

He had denied serious professional misconduct.