Revised - Here’s a story you can really bite into.

A Dawson City man recently had to make an emergency run into Whitehorse due to a broken tooth after no dental services were available for him in the town.

That was despite the local hospital having a dental clinic which is, unfortunately, currently unstaffed.

Mike Najman told the Star Monday, “My tooth broke in half a couple weeks ago because my filling fell out. I got out about half of it out with needle-nose pliers and small channel locks, but I couldn’t get the rest out.

“So I started looking on a local buy and sell Facebook page for real extraction pliers, but I didn’t find a pair.”

It’s not the first time Najman has performed his own dental surgery.

“I did pull my tooth out 12 years ago when I came to Dawson, so I was just trying to do the same thing but didn’t succeed,” he said.

“I can deal with a great amount of pain, but not everyone is like that and tooth pain, to be honest, is the worst one you can get. Compared to that, pulling a tooth out is nothing.”

Najman said he waited until 2 a.m. Jan. 15, then drove to Whitehorse in hopes that one of the dentists would be available the same day.

“I was lucky in the third dentist office, and they pulled the rest of my tooth out,” he told the Star.

Dawson has a fully-equipped dental surgery clinic – but no one is available to staff it.

Helmut Schoener, the town’s retired longtime dentist has offered to help people, but doesn’t have privileges to use the clinic.

“It would be great to have a dentist in Dawson, that’s for sure,” Najman said.

The incident has NDP Leader Kate White furious.

“We can’t have that anywhere in the territory, and it’s happening in Dawson, where we have a purpose-built dental clinic in a regional hospital,” she pointed out Monday. She spoke from Vancouver, where she is attending the Association for Mineral Exploration’s Roundup convention.

“Dental care is health care, and Yukoners deserve both. Instead, we had a Dawson man pull one of his teeth out 12 years ago, when health care was crumbling under the Yukon Party,” said White.

“The same guy felt he had to try again in 2024 because his best alternative was a long, painful, expensive drive to see a dentist in Whitehorse. Health care crumbled under the Yukon Party, and the Liberals have done nothing to pick up the pieces.”

Kim Sheridan, the acting communications manager for the Department of Health and Social Services, told the Star that since March 2023, “the department has not been able to identify a dentist to serve Yukon communities.

This is despite taking a number of steps to try and attract a dentist for this role.

“Previously, Dawson City was supported by a resident dentist who provided services through their own private practice in the community,” Sheridan noted.

“Since 2009, the availability of dental services in the community is similar to all other communities and depends on the availability of a dentist who is interested in practicing in those communities.”

To encourage access to dental services in communities, Sheridan said, the department offers dentists who are interested in practising in communities outside Whitehorse money to offset the costs of travel, related expenses, and facilitates access to dental clinic spaces.

“Currently there are no dental services occurring at the Dawson City Hospital,” Sheridan said.

The recruitment steps have included an expression of interest, a public tender, posting with the Canadian Dental Association, and communication and promotion with dental colleges across the country.

“The department is continuing to recruit for dental services and explore options to encourage dentists in Whitehorse to practise in our communities,” Sheridan said.

Dentists interested in providing services to Dawson residents could arrange to use the dedicated dental care space located in the community hospital, Sheridan noted.

“Individuals living in communities are encouraged to not put their health care needs on hold and are recommended to contact a dentist in Whitehorse or call 911 in an emergency,” Sheridan said.

“The Department of Health and Social Services continues to support the dental care needs of Yukoners through the Yukon Dental Program, which successfully launched in January 2023. Additionally, the department offers the Yukon Children’s Dental Program, which provides dental services to school-aged children across Yukon.”

That program continues to provide services to newborns to children in Grade 12 or under the age of 18 living in all communities.