CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 5

9 Issue 5 | 2018 | CDA at W ork H ealth disparities experienced by First Nations and Inuit children, including disparities in their oral health, are bringing Indigenous leaders, governments and organizations together to find solutions. Although the oral health problems are clear—Indigenous children have four to five times the early childhood caries (ECC) rates compared to the national average, eight times as many day surgeries for ECC, and frequently experience a more severe form of ECC (S-ECC)—there are no easy answers. CDA has been working to understand how to best address the issues affecting the oral health of Indigenous children. We are listening to the perspectives of Indigenous leaders, learning about the connections between health and a community’s history, culture and environment, and recognizing that the struggles communities face with securing basic needs like water, food and housing have a profound impact on health. In other words, the context of Indigenous children’s lives influences all aspects of their health, including their oral health. Earlier this year, CDA was a sponsor at the Indigenous Health Conference: Challenging Inequities , a national conference for health providers designed to open up dialogue about providing culturally competent care for Indigenous people. Dr. Larry Levin, CDA immediate past-president, is the chair of CDA’s Indigenous Children’s Oral Health Working Group and was part of the CDA delegation at the conference. Dr. Robert Schroth, associate professor at the University of Manitoba and recently appointed CDA working group member, gave a presentation about his area of research that examines the ongoing health care challenge of S-ECC in Indigenous children. Indigenous children’s oral health was also at the heart of discussions on Parliament Hill in May, when CDA held its annual Days on the Hill event. Along with representatives from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) health department, CDA met with MPs and senators to convey the importance of supporting programs that engage with First Nations and Inuit communities to provide preventive care and oral health resources for their families (p. 10). A focus of our discussions was the need to expand the Children’s Oral Health Initiative (COHI) to all 600 First Nations and Inuit communities from the 320 currently served by COHI. At one of our meetings, I was fortunate to speak with Senator Mary Jane McCallum, who, as a First Nations woman of Cree heritage, residential school survivor and former dentist working in Northern Manitoba, was keenly aware of the issues. Senator McCallum urged us to look beyond prevention to the social determinants of health and integration of traditional practices—factors that significantly impact the ability of children to be safe and healthy. CDA will continue to strengthen our relationship with the AFN and work collaboratively towards better oral health for Indigenous children. Addressing the oral health disparities requires the involvement of many, including the communities that are being served, and should be part of a broader discussion about reconciliation and health transformation. As health care providers, we know that listening to our patients is the first step to building a trusted relationship. In the same way, listening to Indigenous people is the first step to building the trusted relationship required to improve oral health for Canada’s Indigenous children. From the President Michel (Mitch) Taillon, dmd president@cda-adc.ca Sharing perspectives on Indigenous children’s health