CDA Essentials 2017 • Volume 4 • Issue 2

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7 Issue 2 | 2017 |
CDA at Work
Health care professions are
experiencing a transformational
change and dentistry will be
redefined in significant ways over
the next decade. Patients are
more informed and engaged, health care
delivery models are evolving, and innovative
health technologies promise new ways to
diagnose and treat patients. Whether we like
it or not, external factors beyond our control
are influencing our professional paths. It’s a
crucial time for our profession to identify the
important trends in health care and dentistry
and determine how these might affect us.
In January, CDA began the first of a series of vital
conversations about our professional future. A
national task force, comprising 25 members with
a wide range of expertise, met over two days to
discuss how we can enhance the dental practice
of the future (p.11).
How is the overall health care landscape
changing? A range of experts, including André
Picard, health reporter at the Globe
and Mail, and Dr. Marko Vujicic, chief
economist at the ADA Health Policy
Institute, shared their insights on
this topic in a series of interviews
produced for this initial meeting.
They identified just a few of the
factors that are contributing to the
shifting grounds on which dentistry
now finds itself: new challenges
in the business climate, decreasing
numbers of dental visits by working-
age adults in the U.S., evolving views
of professional self-regulation and
the public interest, a move
towards preventive care
and collaborative
health care.
More insights on trends and challenges in
Canadian oral health care can be found in the
recently published CDA report, The State of Oral
Health in Canada (p.13). The report notes that
“for most Canadians, choice and availability of
dentists is a non-issue.” In terms of access to care,
Canada ranks among the best the world; the
number of Canadians who reported visiting their
dentist at least once a year is increasing, from
roughly 60% in 2001 to over 75% in 2012, and
the supply of dentists is increasing, as shown
in declining population/dentist ratios. Yet the
report notes that people in vulnerable segments
of the population do not receive the dental care
they need; improving access to care for these
groups remains a significant challenge.
Conversations about value are an essential part
of planning for the future. Value to patients, in
terms of meeting their demand for information
about the cost and quality of services. Value to
society, in terms of meeting our professional
obligations to provide care for vulnerable
groups. Value in health, in terms of bringing
attention to the benefits of a healthy mouth for
the entire body and in preventing further illness
later in life. And finally, value to dentists, in terms
of how our organizations can support practising
dentists in this evolving environment.
Although these conversations are just
beginning, it’s clear that adopting a business-
as-usual approach simply isn’t an option. Task
force members have pledged to develop a set
of recommendations for the profession by 2018.
Dentistry’s vision of optimizing the oral health of
Canadians and maintaining the integrity of our
profession remains unchanged. Although the
path to realizing this vision may be uncharted,
it promises to present dentistry with new
opportunities if we are ready to recognize and
act upon them.
From the President
RandallCroutze, bsc, dds
Looking ahead to
the next decade indentistry