CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 8

10 | 2018 | Issue 8 CDA at W ork Healthy Public 1. The Canadian dental profession should articulate and promote a clear definition of oral health that enables the measurement of oral health and systemic outcomes, and that helps to demonstrate the value of oral health care. 2. The Canadian dental profession should promote the intrinsic importance of oral health and highlight the relationship between oral health and systemic health. It is the responsibility of the dentist to lead interdisciplinary teams in the collaborative management of oral diseases and conditions. 3. The Canadian dental profession should take all possible steps to ensure that the basic oral health needs of the entire Canadian population are met, regardless of geography or individual socioeconomic circumstances. 4. The Canadian dental profession should determine what constitutes a “basket” of essential oral health care services that everyone in Canada should be able to access. 5. The Canadian dental profession should collaborate and create coalitions with health care and other professional groups as well as civil society groups interested in improving oral health, overall health, and social and living conditions of people in Canada. 6. The Canadian dental profession should embrace the principle of person-centred care, and encourage the delivery or oral health care to vulnerable patient groups in locations and by delivery methods that are most appropriate for these groups. Strong Profession 1. The Canadian dental profession should ensure that all dentists licensed to practice have an excellent grounding in the principles of professionalism, ethics and empathic communication. 2. The Canadian dental profession should facilitate the provision of business education and resources for dentists that are appropriate for their chosen model of practice. In 2016, a CDATask Force on the Future of the Profession was established to develop a course of action for supporting the Canadian dental profession as it navigates the changing landscape of dentistry. Chaired by Dr. Alastair Nicoll, CDA past-president, this 25-member task force represented the demographic diversity of the Canadian dental profession in terms of gender, career stage, practice location and practice type. Task Force on the Future of the Profession: Priority Recommendations CDA and its provincial and territorial dental association partners have now prioritized 12 recommendations put forth by the task force to ensure that dentistry is supported in its goal of providing optimal oral health care to the Canadian population. In the coming year, the focus will be on developing plans to implement these recommendations, in close collaboration with all segments of Canadian dentistry, including dental specialists, academia and the military. Goal: Optimal oral health for all people who live in Canada Goal: Support for the dentist of the future