A growing number of Canadians have no access to dental care

Lower income Canadians are in desperate need of affordable safe dentistry

The search for the unlikely fugitive is over. Tung Sheng Wu -- also known as David Wu -- turned himself in to Toronto police on the weekend and appeared in court yesterday for a bail hearing. Wu is accused of operating an illegal dental practice out of a house near Vancouver. A court first ordered him to stop practicing dentistry without a licence back in 2003.

In May, the RCMP shut down a clinic operated out of a Burnaby home. Wu was sentenced to three months for contempt for ignoring the earlier court order. But he couldn't be found, so a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued in August.

Authorities now urge Wu's former patients to get tested for diseases such as hepatitis and HIV because of the unsanitary conditions found in the clinic. So far, no one has tested positive.

• Jerome Marburg is the Registrar and CEO of the College of Dental Surgeons of BC. He was in Vancouver.

While officials may be pleased a fugitive is no longer on the loose, many people consider what was happening in that Vancouver home an indicator of a wider problem -- the lack of affordable and safe dentistry for many Canadians.

• Stephen Learey at the Strathcona Community Dental Clinic in Vancouver shares his thoughts from the clinic.

• Dr. Carlos Quinonez knows that some Canadians fall through the cracks and is not getting access to professional dental care. He is the President-elect of the Canadian Association of Public Health Dentistry. Dr. Carlos Quinonez was in Toronto.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Liz Hoath and Lara O'Brien.