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.
According to Carlos Quinones, head of the dental health program at the University of Toronto, many countries in the developed world use a similar multi-faceted model, but Canada's coverage rate is about 70%.
"If you start comparing us to the U.K. or other EU countries, the coverage there is almost 100 per cent," Quinones says. — I think we need to move toward universal access to dental care, which means that every Canadian should have access to basic oral health care, and that can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
Quinones says there's a strong financial argument for changing the system. Preventable dental problems led to more than 60,000 ER visits and 230,000 family doctor visits in Ontario in 2014, costing $40 million.
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"The worst-case scenario is when someone goes to the doctor's office and is recommended to go to the dentist and is given a painkiller or antibiotic. Then he ends up in the emergency room, where he gets more painkillers and more antibiotics and is told he needs to see a dentist right away. The person ends up in the hospital because of a serious infection," he says. — That's a lot of wasted dollars, even though basic dental care could have solved the problem."
Ann Theriault knows firsthand the consequences of dental problems. The Toronto-based writer had a perfectly healthy mouth until she became pregnant nine years ago. In some women, elevated hormone levels during pregnancy can trigger plaque and lead to gum disease and tooth decay. Terio was much more affected than most women.
"I had to have every tooth treated," she says. — My teeth were crumbling, it was quite painful, and it affected my quality of life a lot." Fortunately, Terio had dental insurance from her husband's employer. But the policy only covered a certain percentage of each dental procedure and had a cap on expenses. The woman had exceeded that limit every year since she became pregnant. As a result, she estimated that she had left more than $10,000 at the dentist for a variety of procedures.
A couple of years ago she developed a dental abscess due to an untreated tooth cavity. The bacterial infection spread to her lymphatic system. "My lymph nodes swelled and my condition worsened," she recalled. — I wanted to see my primary care physician about my lymph node problems and my dentist about a dental abscess. It's frustrating that I can't afford medical care in a country that prides itself on having such a strong health care system," she says.
A recent survey showed that of those Canadians who do not have dental insurance, almost half choose not to see a dentist at all. And despite common misconceptions, only 10% of dental health problems are the result of poor oral hygiene.
Dr. David Stevenson, president of the Ontario Dental Association, acknowledges that some people in Canada are not getting access to good dental care. "Our country needs a clear strategy to correct this situation."
