Years later, former patient testifies she's still haunted by dentist visit

The memory still haunts her nearly three decades later: sitting in the examination chair, dressed in her choir uniform, as her dentist yelled "wider," forcing her mouth open until her lips split and then slapping her when she cried out and raised her hand in defence.

That was the testimony of a 40-year-old woman called as a witness Friday in Halifax provincial court at the trial of Dr. Errol Gaum, an 82-year-old dentist charged with assaulting multiple child patients in the 1970s and 1980s.

Gaum was her dentist from the age of 2 until 17, the woman told the court, describing him as a bully who would routinely become enraged, slapping her, covering her mouth and pinching her.

"There's just so much that happened it's hard to pick and choose," she told the court.

Gaum, whose dentistry licence was suspended in 2020 when allegations he had mistreated young patients emerged, has pleaded not guilty to assault charges involving five complainants. The woman who testified Friday is not one of them, however, as she only made a statement to Halifax police this spring, long after the other charges had been laid and the trial scheduled.

Gaum has not been charged with assaulting the woman, and typically evidence of other misconduct is not admissible in a trial. However, there can be an exception when a witness describes an experience "strikingly similar" to the offence for which a person is being tried.

In this case, there are three witnesses who were allegedly former patients of Gaum, but for whom charges have not been laid. The prosecution will seek to convince Judge Elizabeth Buckle she should consider their testimony when assessing the evidence in the case.

Like other alleged victims in the case, the identity of the woman who testified Friday is banned from publication as she was under 18 when she was allegedly assaulted.

The incident she described in court happened when she was 13 or 14, the woman testified. Gaum abruptly slapped her, she said — not too forcefully, like a "wake-up" — then grabbed her face and pinched. She testified she began to softly cry, and "disassociate, I guess."

Coming forward

She told her mother and brother what had happened, the woman said, but otherwise kept what happened during her dentist visits private and grew up with embarrassment and shame.

When allegations against Gaum emerged publicly in November 2020, she said she saw the news coverage and was overwhelmed, struck in particular by the story of a six-year-old girl whose father had spoken out about the treatment she had received from Gaum earlier that month.

The woman only contacted the prosecutor's office, she said, after reading a story published last year where Gaum's lawyer at the time told the court the dentist couldn't remember any of the complainants.

The court also heard that Gaum often administered the sedative Mellaril, which would cause some children to hallucinate, but patient records that would detail whether any complainants had been given the drug no longer exist. 

The woman testified the suggestion that alleged victims had been under the influence of the Mellaril "just burned" her, as she knew she had not been given any sedative, aside from perhaps when she was a toddler. She was interviewed by police in March.

The trial continues next week.