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A man pulled out women's teeth with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers during sex because he liked "gummy ladies", a court has been told.

Philip Lyle Hansen, 56, from New Zealand, claims was just trying to "help" the victims and has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges between 1988 and 2011 - including unlawful sexual connection and wounding with intent.

A former girlfriend of Hansen, 47, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Wellington District Court on Wednesday she never consented to having her teeth yanked out but was too "afraid" to report him.

Crown prosecutor Sally Carter warned the jury that during the trial they would hear evidence about Hansen's "fascination or obsession with them [women] not having any teeth".

"He liked his women without teeth," Ms Carter said in her opening address according to the New Zealand Herald.

(Image: BrentThomson/Flickr)

The court watched a video from 2012 of the woman talking about how Hansen allegedly held her against a car door and removed six of her bottom teeth, using an oily rag to stop the bleeding, during sex.

She later had all her teeth removed and replaced with dentures, but when her wisdom teeth started coming through Hansen allegedly removed them with a screwdriver.

"He had a screwdriver in his hand, he then tilted my head back... after that he had grabbed the screwdriver and started digging at the back of my gums to try and get out these wisdom teeth," she said in the video.

During cross-examination defence lawyer Mike Antunovic said the woman had let Hansen pull out six teeth from her lower jaw and that Hansen was just trying to help the women, not hurt them.

The lawyer said the woman had not objected to Hansen extracting her teeth with pliers.

But the woman, who said she had been drinking that night but was not heavily intoxicated, said she did not "freely" open her mouth and that she had no choice.

(Image: Eirik Solheim/Flcikr)

Mr Antunovic suggested Hansen had been trying to help the woman when he tried to remove her emerging wisdom teeth with a screwdriver after she complained about the problems they were causing her.

The alleged victim denied this.

Hansen was arrested in December 2012.

The trial continues.