Why are so few dentists willing to travel to N.W.T. communities? 

Long hours, inadequate work spaces and lower pay. 

Those are some of the conditions dentists face when they travel to remote N.W.T. communities. 

Earlier this year, the territorial government sent out four requests for proposals (RFPs) for service in several communities. 

CBC recently reported that two of those RFPs were cancelled in March after neither received bids. One covered the Sahtú, the other Gamètì, Whatì and Fort Resolution. 

The RFPs for the Beaufort-Delta and Dehcho each received one bid, but contracts have not yet been awarded, leaving it unclear when dental visits will happen in communities. 

Dr. Pirjo Friedman is a dentist with Adam Dental Clinic in Yellowknife who has spent much of the past 12 years travelling to communities. 

She says broken equipment has been one of the biggest challenges, especially post-pandemic. 

Last September, she was in Fort Simpson when the tool to rinse patients' mouths broke and could not be easily turned off. 

After every trip, Friedman says she's required to fill out a form on the condition of equipment. She says she'd reported the tool was malfunctioning for nearly two years before it broke. Despite this, a trip scheduled for January was cancelled because it was still not fixed. 

"We would have drowned patients," she quipped. 

In October, Friedman was in Délı̨nę when an air compressor broke. She says a fix wasn't possible and it was community members who helped fly in a replacement from Tulita. She lost a day and a half out of the five she was in the community.

Todd Sasaki, spokesperson for the territory's procurement services, said the recent RFPs included a list of available equipment in each community. Dentists would be required to bring compressors and air purifiers to those that didn't have any. Even portable compressors can weigh 18 to 32 kilograms. 

Friedman says that's "unreasonable," especially when going to fly-in communities. 

Who's responsible for fixing equipment is not clear. Jeremy Bird, spokesperson for the territorial department of health and social services, said dentists are responsible for "performing minor repairs." But Friedman says she's been warned against doing repairs.