Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps

Abstract

As a key component of overall health and quality of life, oral health is recognized by public health organizations globally as a basic human right. Dentists are oral health experts involved in the primary prevention of oral injury and the detection and management of oral diseases. As regulated healthcare professionals, dentists identify and treat dental caries, gum disease, oral cancers, and edentulism, among other conditions. Oral diseases that go undetected and/or untreated burden patients with increased severity of disease and worse health outcomes. The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) advises most Canadians to visit a dentist every 6 months, yet routine access to primary oral healthcare is not covered by Canada’s publicly funded healthcare insurance. Investments by the federal government into dental services for high-risk groups have failed to resolve pervasive oral health disparities among Canadians related to dental care affordability, accessibility, and availability. Vulnerable groups across Canada, including children, seniors in long-term care, Indigenous peoples, new immigrants with refugee status, people with special needs, and the low-income population, have been identified as having challenges accessing regular dental care. Herein, an equity-focused commentary on the current climate of oral healthcare in Canada is presented. We outline how addressing disparities in Canadian dental care will require the engagement of physicians on multiple levels of care, negotiation with both dentists and policymakers, as well as sustained oral health data collection to inform provincial and national decision-making/strategies.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of patients with oral diseases toward oral examinations: a cross-sectional survey study

“…The SEM analysis also showed that expenses for oral disease per year influenced attitudes. Indeed, several studies showed that treatment costs were a barrier to proper oral health ( 37 , 38 ). In the present study, two-thirds of the participants were ≤35 years old.…”

History of dental caries in Inuit populations: genetic implications and ‘distance effect’

“…Indeed, it is well documented that populations living in areas geographically distant from the health system and/or with low health literacy and/or low economic status are particularly prone to poor health conditions [ 16–18 ]. Such populations are also more affected by caries than the rest of the population of the countries where they live due to a cultural gap and a lack of impact of adapted prevention policies [ 19 ].…”