Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 26/05) - A shortage of operating room time is causing backlogs for some dental surgeries, leaving patients, mainly children, on long waiting lists, according to dentists.

There are more than 300 children on waiting lists, estimates Dr. Hassan Adam, president of the NWT/Nunavut Dental Association. These children are from across the NWT and the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut.

This is what teeth look like without proper dental care. While the patient waits, the teeth, and any associated pain, get worse.

"It's an epidemic right now for sure," said Adam.

Children who need lots of dental work, but are too small to be put in a dentist's chair, have everything done under sedation in an operating room at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Adam said a shortage of operating room time has left children with advancing cavities that have led to abscesses and tooth loss.

Dentistry is regarded as an elective so it's on the bottom of the list for operating room procedures, Adam said.

All the clinics give Stanton requests for operating room time. When time is available it is divided proportionally according to the number of patients each clinic has.

With three days, the maximum number of children you can see is 15, said Adam, who runs Adam Dental Clinic. The clinic is lucky to get three days in an operating room every two months.

"It is almost impossible to make a dent in the numbers," Adam said.

Somba K'e Family Dental Clinic is facing a similar situation. They have approximately 75 people on their waiting list. Most are children.

The clinic doesn't have an operating room date until Nov. 7. Their last date was in July.

"It's a chronic problem, and it seems this year is worse than any of the other years I've had," said a dentist at the clinic who declined to identify himself.

Patients can be on the clinic's list between six to 18 months depending on the problem.

The dentist said the operating room staff tries to accommodate them, but the demands on their time prevent it.

Heather Chang, quality and risk management co-ordinator at Stanton, declined to comment, saying the hospital needed more time to respond to questions.

It's not only children who are waiting, said Adam. He said there are also delays for adults needing wisdom teeth extraction and implants.

Adam said if a wisdom tooth extraction is straight forward the wait might be only two months. If the case is difficult and a specialist is needed it could be four to six months. For difficult cases you have to go south.

Currently, there is no oral surgeon working in the NWT.

A meeting scheduled for next Tuesday is looking at the problem

Dr. Adam, representing the NWT/Nunavut Dental Association, along with a member of the National Indian Health Board and a representative from the GNWT department of health will try to set criteria for which procedures should be done in the operating rooms.

"I don't think there will be simple answers for a while," said Adam.