Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 4

general health care system is public. But is there any difference in the extent to which oral health inequality has worsened or improved in these countries, given their similarities and differences?” There is greater inequality in the U.S. than in Canada, despite higher public dental spending in the U.S. in the 2000s. This suggests that a stronger social safety net, in general, can have a positive impact on the oral health of low-income people. Over the 40-year span that the study covers, the oral health of almost everyone in Canada and the U.S. improved. “Everybody’s oral health got better, that’s well-known,” says co-author of the study, Dr. Carlos Quiñonez, vice dean and director of dentistry at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. In the 2000s, there was less untreated decay than in the 1970s. More people kept their teeth. More people got dental treatments for oral disease. “But, differences between the rich and the poor were actually getting worse,” says Dr. Chari. “Inequality has increased in oral health outcomes, as improvements in the rich have outpaced improvements among the poor.” 27 Issue 4 | 2022 | Issues and People