When Charlottetown resident Alan Gallant went to the dentist for a root canal, his travel expenses totaled almost as much as the procedure itself.
That’s because he had to go from PEI to Halifax to see an endodontist, a dental specialist who handles treatments like complex root canals.
While Gallant, 77, has a good dental plan and retirement benefits, he worries others won’t be able to afford the price associated with lodging, gas and meals to travel out of state.
“I’m just worried because I know some people [who] I’m getting close to my age here on the island where they just don’t have the money,” he said. “It’s not just a cosmetic, it’s a health issue. I consider root canals a medical issue.”
PEI currently does not have an endodontist since the one who worked here retired and left the province after about 10 years of practice.
When an island man found out he had to travel off-island for dental work, he wondered why. The head of the PEI Dental Association explains.
That means people like Gallant who need a complicated root canal must travel to a dentist in Moncton or Halifax for the procedure.
While general dentists on the island can handle simple root canals, endodontists specialize in more serious cases where the pulp – the nerves, blood vessels and other tissues deep inside a tooth – are rotten, infected and causing pain.
Brian Barrett, executive director of the PEI Dental Association, said most endodontists seem to want to practice in larger centres, making it difficult to attract them to the province.
“It’s really sad that we can’t get them to come here, but we’ve been trying for years,” he said. “The endodontist who was here spent two years [travelling] across Canada and North America trying to attract someone to Charlottetown without success.”
In fact, Barrett said, there is a shortage of general dentists in PEI as well, as with most other health professions.
Provincial government health officials did not respond to CBC’s request for comment on the matter.
They would have no problem living really well, but we can’t convince them that this is the right place.— Brian Barrett
While locals who need anything other than the simplest of root canals will probably have to travel off-island to get them, there is a benefit to this. The wait time is much shorter in Moncton or Halifax than when PEI had its own endodontist, Barrett said.
In the meantime, the dental association continues to try to recruit a specialist to work here by advertising with colleagues and medical schools in other provinces.
Barrett said he’s heard of endodontists in Ontario splitting their time between multiple clinics just to see enough patients, something they shouldn’t have to worry about in PEI
“They would be busy every day of the week,” he said. “If we could get them here, they’d have no problem living really well, but we can’t seem to convince them that this is the right place.”
