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Volume 3 Issue 6
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children recently moved to Canada. If those born or raised
in Canada exhibit more disease, this would reflect the need
for prevention and treatment programs that target such
children as early as possible (e.g., school-based oral health
programs).
Variations in Oral Health Status by Location
Children of newcomers living in different parts of
the new country may exhibit different oral health
characteristics.
3,4
Hence, a general policy may not be
applicable to all newcomer children in all regions.
Language Literacy
Newcomer children are less likely to receive routine or
preventive dental care.
29
Language barriers have been
consistently associated with less use of dental care
29
and
issues of communication with health care providers.
34
General education programs to improve language literacy
(in one of the official languages) as well as more specific
programs to improve oral health literacy could overcome
cultural beliefs and practices that are harmful to the oral
health of children and help increase the use of dental
services.
Awareness of the Importance of Oral Health
Although dental insurance is an important determinant
of the use of dental care services, newcomer children use
dental care less, regardless of their insurance status.
18
This
may be related to newcomer children relying mainly on
publicly funded dental programs, where practitioner
reimbursement rates are relatively low.
22
In addition, the
required co-payments may be a financial burden.
It is essential to realize that less use of dental services may be
a result of lack of parental understanding of how preventive
services and routine regular dental visits can be effective in
improving the oral health of their children.
Comprehensive Accessible Dental Care
Newcomer children are at higher risk of dental caries
compared with non-newcomer children. They are also more
likely to live in poverty or come from low-income households
where the cost of dental care is a burden.
24
Providing free (or
perhaps affordable) accessible and comprehensive dental
care may be the most efficient way to eliminate caries in
newcomer children who are in urgent need of dental care.
42
Conclusion
Children of newcomers are associated with worse oral health
outcomes, including lower utilization rates, higher dental
status scores and higher prevalence of caries compared
with their non-newcomer counterparts. Barriers that play a
role include cost of regular dental care, insufficient dental
insurance coverage, communicating with dental care
providers because of language barriers and parental beliefs
and practices that put these children at a higher risk of
dental diseases.
18,26,36,37
The increase in disparities between
newcomer and non-newcomer children can be reduced
through:
implementation of more effective preschool and school-
based oral health programs for young children
improving newcomer parents’ literacy in the official
language(s)
educating newcomer parents regarding good oral health
practices
providing affordable (ideally free) comprehensive dental
care (the most efficient way to eliminate caries in children
who are in urgent need of care)
The dental profession in Canada can contribute to
improving the oral health of newcomers and disadvantaged
populations by treating patients covered under publicly
funded dental programs and supporting the work of
organizations seeking to expand and improve these
programs by advocating appropriate oral health policies.
a
References
Complete listofreferencesavailableat
: jcda.ca/g3Regardless of their birthplace, many studies have shown that
children of newcomers have worse oral health than their
non-newcomer counterparts.