As the long running row over the Island's need for foreign dentists continues, jobs held by locals at a state of the art dental clinic are in jeopardy over an Immigration Department decision to refuse a work permit application, it is claimed.

And dental care for the indigent is also at risk because of what the Dental Association claims is unhelpful behaviour from the Dental Board in frustrating efforts to bring in foreign dentists.

“If we don't get any satisfactory change and improvement on the manpower situation I think the dental community will have to take more aggressive action - refuse to run the indigent and emergency care system as a form of protest at Government's inaction to solve the dental manpower shortage,” said Association president Laidlaw Fraser Smith.

“The ramifications of not having enough manpower is that the emergency rota and the indigent rota start to fall apart. They have not fallen apart yet but it's only through great efforts being made by certain members to hold it all together.”

The 25 member Dental Association is calling for the resignation of Dental Board Chairman Richard Cann.

And a petition is being circulated asking the Island's political leaders to take action to resolve the manpower shortage.

Hard on the heels of last year's court ruling that the Board had been biased against English dentist David Thompson in its handling of an exam that would have cleared the way for him to practice here, another dentist, James Fay has been refused permission to bring in a foreign associate.

“Already I've had to let go two local people, I've had an associate and every dentist that you get in you need more and more staff - overhead remains the same but you are not using all the chairs,” said Dr. Fay, who operates the state of the art Paget Dental Clinic.

Dr. Fay was denied Immigration permission to bring in a foreign dentist to replace his former associate who had a medical emergency.

His application pointed out that while his son was studying dentistry abroad, it would be a few years before he qualified and returns home and that a foreign dentist was needed in the interim.

Immigration wrote to Dr. Fay saying that the board had declined to recommend approving the work permit. But after appealing to the Governor, Dr. Fay was told that the board had not even considered the matter and that his application was defective.

“Either the dental board is lying or Immigration is lying,” Dr. Fay said. “At the moment we are trying to get clarification.”

Dentists across the Island are convinced that Bermuda needs more dentists. But the Board, which makes recommendations to Immigration has often frustrated efforts to bring people in, says the Association.

“”We don't trust this board and if it was another board we might accept it,” said Dr. Fay who is a former president of the Association.”They are protecting their own practices. The Board's mandate is to protect the public and the Dental Association should be protecting their members. It is the Dental Association saying we need to protect the public and it is the Dental Board that is keeping access tight.”

Dr. Cann declined to comment on Dr. Fay's case and he also would not say whether he believed there was a shortage.

Dentists should wait until the completion of a manpower survey which gives all dentists an opportunity to express their views, he said.

“On a number of occasions the Dental Board has carried on actions which have exacerbated the shortage of dental manpower, by not supporting applications made by general dental practitioners to bring in associates from overseas,” said Dr. Fraser Smith.

A motion was passed at one of the Association's meetings earlier this year saying that they had lost confidence in Mr. Cann as chairman of the board.

“This matter has come up before - the board is appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Ministry and I think people have expressed their views and concerns but I think they should wait until the survey comes out,” Dr. Cann said.

“Usually for everyone dentist employed they probably are going to employ receptionist staff and nursing staff who are usually Bermudian. Of course the biggest damage is to the public who cannot properly access dental care,” said Dr. Fraser Smith.

“It seems like the board has not recognised that there is a manpower shortage and they seem to be the only people in Bermuda who don't accept it.”

He said requests to Immigration to explain whether it is bound to accept dental board recommendations have been met with silence.

The dental board members, all of whom run their own practices are often “very secretive” about changes in policy and so are at a competitive advantage over other dentists, he added.

Yesterday Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer said that the Minister is only required to consult with professional bodies on work permits but did not necessarily have to accept recommendations.

Contacted for comment, John Dickinson, who runs the indigent care system said that client statistics were not available in any meaningful sense.

“It affects everybody else too - more and more people are going to the United States,” he stressed.

And he complained that he had had a work permit renewal application in limbo since August.

“I haven't received the work permit because the dental board has not responded to their request for comment. The shortage of dentists is entirely laid at the feet of the dental board.”

Dr. Cann's resignation is “long overdue” he continued.

“The health care of the public comes first. I don't care if he's not busy. If he's not busy in this environment he will never be busy. Why would he refuse applications if he's busy? The rest of us are running around like chickens without a head. When I refer patients everybody is busy.”