Founders Walter Junikiewicz and Reid Boulet (left) arrive in the Yukon with their student run initiative Access For All Dentistry to help give 350 kids dental care they need. Photo Credit: Access For All Dentistry Facebook

By Shane Clausing

Access for all dental

Peace Region U of A students launch initiative to provide free dental care to remote communities

Mar 18, 2021 | 8:28 AM

Two University of Alberta dental students are working together to create a non-profit student run initiative at the University of Alberta that will provide access to oral health care for individuals located in rural Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

The initiative is called Access for all Dentistry and was started by founders Reid Boulet and Walter Junikiewicz, both fourth-year dental students at the U of A.

Boulet is a Grande Prairie native, who grew up on a farm located just outside of the city, while Junikiewicz is from the Peace River area and spent five years working as a dental hygienist in the Peace Region.

Both Boulet and Junikiewicz told EverythingGP the idea to create the initiative came up when they realized just how many people there are in small communities who lack access to dental care.

“We both know there is a huge lack of access to care in the remote areas in and around the Peace Country,” said Boulet. “Being able to provide dental care to people in that area that have a lack of access was big for us.”

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“There is no initiative like this in the province going on. There are some smaller ones going on in Edmonton and Calgary, but there is nothing more rural, so we wanted to be able to provide care to patients in rural Alberta, where they don’t have that opportunity to seek care as easily as those in the bigger cities.”

For some located on reserves or in isolated communities, the closest dentist office is hours away and for many people in remote communities, they can’t afford to pay for a visit to the dental office.

As a result of their new initiative, Boulet and Junikiewicz have been in contact with government officials in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, as well as the lead health officer for the Metis Nations of Alberta about bringing their initiative to communities in need.

According to Boulet and Junikiewicz, the idea of the initiative grabbed the attention and commitment of their teachers and school.

“When Walter and I had brought it up to some of our instructors, they thought it was an excellent idea and didn’t know why we don’t have anything like this in the province. They said it’s going to be a lot of work and there’s a reason why there’s nothing like that going on, because it is a lot of work to get an initiative like that rolling.”

“The instructors and faculty at the University of Alberta were really supportive of us from the get-go helping us as much as they could, trying to maneuver through some of the roadblocks we ran into trying to set up. They’re very excited for something like this to get running in the near future.”

During their reading week in November 2020, Boulet and Junikiewicz did a small trial session in the Yukon, where they helped give 350 students dental care. They looked for decay and fillings that needed to be done.

Both of them will be heading back to the Yukon at the end of April, and they will also do a trip through the Metis Nations of Alberta to help provide residents in remote communities with the care they need.

With the initiative being run by dental students through the U of A, Boulet says there are plenty of students interested in getting experience.

“Pretty much every day we have a classmate of ours that is reaching out and asking when we’re going next. I think the students and faculty of dentistry are very keen to help people in need and they’re ready to jump at it, get to work and help people who need it.”

Because students don’t have their dental licenses, the program will essentially work under the umbrella of the university, where the teachers, as well as former U of A alumni who do have their dental license, will have to look over everything the students do.

If everything aligns properly and equipment, money and temporary housing can be found so students don’t have to pay out of their own pocket, the hope would be for trips to happen every November, February and May during reading weeks at the U of A.

Currently, the plan for Boulet and Junikiewicz is to do a trial trip with some students to a remote community in November 2021.

Even though Boulet and Junikiewicz will be graduating from dental school in the next year, they both plan on remaining important figures of the program.

“The goal is to have it go on for years and years and years,” said Boulet. “And that’s why we wanted this to become a student initiative, because then the students can keep pushing it when Walter and I are done and working. We can still help out, but you have 40-43 students coming in each year that can help out with this initiative.”

More information about the Access For All Program can be found on their Facebook page.