Dentistry in Canada: expensive and ruthless
Canadians are demanding that dental care be included in public insurance. One-third of residents do not have dental insurance and are paying dearly for it.
86% of Canadians are in favour of publicly funded dental care. About a third of Canadians do not currently have private dental insurance.
One of them is Calgary resident Stan Thompson, a professional comedian. In 2005, he was beaten and robbed in Hamilton, Ontario, injuring his head and causing serious damage to his teeth. "The condition of my teeth got worse and worse, it got to the point where I could take them out of my mouth with my hand," he recalls. — From that point on, things got bad for me."
Thompson had no private dental insurance and could not afford expensive treatment. He says the pain and speech difficulties prevented him from working, and he could eat with great difficulty. "I lost more than 10 pounds," the comedian says. — It was horrible, I lost confidence that I could make it."
After some time, Thompson contacted a local charity, CUPS Dental Services, which provides free dental care to low-income Calgarians. He had some of his damaged teeth extracted and was provided with dentures.
Dental care in Canada is provided by some charitable organizations, private and publicly funded programs that tend to target low-income families.
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