A Quebec dentist who speaks French fluently has lost his right to practise in the province after failing a written French test four times.

"Honestly, I feel I can't say how I feel," Mahmoud Raisi said Thursday after learning he would be denied the permanent licence he needs to continue serving patients in Aylmer, Quebec. "I'm speechless in that department."

Raisi, who also speaks Persian, English and Spanish, moved to Aylmer from Ottawa, which is 10 kilometres away across the Quebec-Ontario border, four years ago and has been practising dentistry under a temporary licence.

During that time, he said he has built a clientele of 2,000 patients and has had no language-related problems.

But Quebec's language charter requires certain professionals born out of the province to pass both oral and written language tests in four tries or fewer, unless they studied high school or university in Quebec.

After four unsuccessful attempts, they can no longer practise under a temporary licence.

A spokesperson for Quebec's language office said dentists must be able to write at the university level, and that's what Dr. Raisi will have to do if he wants to practise in the province again.

Raisi passed the oral test, but scored only 50 per cent on his fourth and final chance at the written test. He needed 60 per cent to pass.

Now, he said he is considering leaving the province.

"I'm not the first one [and] I won't be the last one to leave Quebec because of the language," he said. "But if that's the way to … protect the French language, then all the best for them."

An advocate for anglophones in Quebec said he thinks the province needs all the health professionals it can get and is making a big mistake.

"Chasing away our professionals on the basis of a written exam in French ... in my view is not a good idea," said Richard Turcotte, executive director of the Regional Association of West Quebecers.

Meanwhile, Raisi's patients, including Marie-Thée Pelletier, say they don't think it's right that Raisi has to leave because of his test result.

"I talk to him in French all the time. He understands everything," Pelletier said. "I find this event — that they stop him from practising — terrible, because we are losing our dentist."