Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 5

Richard Holden BSc, DDS president@cda-adc.ca Better Access toOralHealthCare Makes a BetterNation A lthough a large proportion of Canadians receive excellent oral health care, many do not. Some of these underserved Canadians have special health care needs. Others are older adults living in long-term care (LTC). Some live in remote communities, while others live in poverty. The dental profession has a duty to serve the public. In my experience, it is also a profession guided by high ideals; we strive to improve the lives of people in our communities. Many dentists I know have done everything they can individually to address the gaps in the oral health care system. I’ve seen colleagues make personal sacrifices to provide care to people who wouldn’t have been able to access it otherwise. One of my mentors, Dr. David Richardson, was a pediatric dentist in PEI, who spent time each year providing care in remote northern communities and also provided hospital care to children who didn’t have insurance. Often these patients were funded through our provincial dental health program. Even though this program was quite good, by most standards, it never fully reimbursed to the fee guide and the dentist performing the services would have to subsidize the cost, to varying degrees. But he considered it his social duty to provide this care. Dr. Richardson is just one of many dentists who go above and beyond to help people who are otherwise underserved. I’ve witnessed these quiet acts of kindness regularly. It makes me proud to be a part of dentistry. If individual dentists can make a difference, I believe that working together, we can do even more to improve access to care. For most of my career, I’ve worked in group homes with adults with cognitive disabilities and provided hospital services to adults with special health care needs. Many of my patients from my regular practice who I’ve known and treated for decades are now older adults, who live on fixed incomes, lack insurance or have moved into LTC homes. Mobility challenges, poor health and dementia can make it hard for them to come to a dental office for care. But I’ve witnessed the difference that oral health care makes in their lives; it relieves suffering while also helping with their ability to eat and speak, and gives them confidence to interact with others. I also know that the pandemic has put financial pressure on many dentists that makes it harder to provide care that doesn’t cover our usual fees and rising overhead costs. What would a more inclusive oral health care system look like? This is a complicated and challenging question that we need to address. We’ll need to think bigger and more innovatively than the status quo. Publicly funded dental programs have been eroded in recent years and continue to decline. During this year’s Days on the Hill meetings and in the lead up to the federal election, CDA has encouraged politicians from all parties to address these challenges. We have asked that the federal government invest immediately in existing dental programs at the provincial and territorial level, which are almost entirely funded by provincial and territorial governments. A $600 million investment over the next five years would be a place to start. This level of funding would mean that the federal government would cover about the same proportion of costs for dental programs as they do for other health care programs. We are also working to ensure that any new national LTC standards being developed include oral health. I envision our profession’s contribution to society in grand terms. We work with people from when their first tooth comes in until their old age so they can be healthy and lead meaningful lives. When I imagine a better future, every Canadian will have access to this level of lifelong care. From the President 7 Issue 5 | 2021 | CDA atWork