Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 5

eligibility needs to be well planned and easy to understand. Dental office staff should be able to access patient eligibility and coverage information electronically, ideally while the patient is in the office, rather than waiting weeks or months for approvals. Many dentists suggested that a set of minimum national standards should be established, and in the event of delivery by provincial or territorial governments, meeting these standards should be a requirement for federal transfers. A core set of services needs to be based on restoration of physical and social oral health function and include both oral health promotion and preventive services and surgical/treatment services. They pointed out that existing public programs have limited preventative coverage, and focus more on treating dental disease, which can lead to both poorer oral health outcomes and higher costs in the long run. The virtual consultations also yielded ideas related to plan administration, work force capacity in oral health, and how to address the needs of populations including children, seniors, Indigenous Peoples, and people living with disabilities. Read the full What We Heard Report on the CDA website: bit.ly/3qySzTa 10 | 2022 | Issue 5 CDA atWork