Visiting dental services are set to resume in Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, Fort Providence and Norman Wells, health minister Lesa Semmler announced in the legislature on Wednesday.
Semmler also announced a three-year agreement with Health Canada that will fund equipment repair and replacement in community health centres to the tune of $3 million.
“For years, outdated and broken dental equipment has been one of the biggest reasons dental services could not be delivered consistently in small communities, even when dental professionals were ready and willing to travel,” said Semmler on Wednesday.
“There was no dedicated funding to maintain or replace this equipment and, as a result, residents could not receive dental care close to home.”
In a news release issued Wednesday, the territory said work in the first year of the agreement will focus on the assessment of dental spaces and equipment and the development of standardized dental room layouts.
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In the second and third years, equipment repairs and replacements will be completed across the NWT, beginning in the Beaufort Delta and followed by the Sahtu, the GNWT stated.
Dental visits in the Dehcho and Sahtu could resume as soon as this summer, the news release added, once equipment has been assessed as safe for use.
Yellowknife-based Adam Dental Clinic will deliver dental services in those communities, the territory stated.
“By improving the safety and readiness of dental spaces and confirming visiting service providers, we can provide more reliable oral health care access across the territory and relieve pressure on the medical travel system,” Semmler was quoted as saying in the news release.
Access to dentistry in the NWT was the focus of a recent investigation from The Globe and Mail. It found that faulty equipment, inadequate dental spaces and underfunding were among reasons some providers stopped bidding on contracts to provide visiting dentistry.
The Globe found that new contracts for visiting dentistry haven’t been awarded in the past three years, though some visits were approved under the terms of previous contracts.
