Opinion: Expanding public dental care can ease health system strain

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As Canadians prepare to head to the polls later this month, it’s time to reconsider universal dental care. What started as a NDP campaign promise in the 2021 federal election has evolved into the Canadian Dental Care Plan, providing dental coverage for low-income, uninsured families.

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While the plan has expanded to offer dental coverage for vulnerable Canadians, it simply isn’t enough to address the dental health discrepancy. The exclusion of dental coverage denies preventative care, leading to poor health outcomes, straining the health-care system.

Prior to the plan, one third of Canadians did not have dental coverage; one in four avoided dental care due to costs, according to Health Canada. In May, the plan is expected to open eligibility to all Canadians who do not have dental coverage and with a household income of under $90,000.

The new stratification of the plan still marginalizes the working poor and the working low-middle class who are ineligible for benefits yet are underpaid or under-insured and will need to pay out of pocket for necessary care.

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By making dental care universal, all Canadians will have access to necessary dental care regardless of employment, therefore decommodifying Canadians.

By ignoring dental care as health care, we are potentially costing the Canadian health-care system millions by treating preventative illness and disease.

According to Health Canada, poor oral health is correlated to numerous complications and diseases, including cancer, stroke, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes complications, pregnancy complications, life-threatening infections, and greater overall risk of mortality.

It is no secret that Canadian health care is in crisis; to divert these potential illnesses and diseases away from the already overburdened system is of the utmost importance. Take oral cancer for example, a disease often first diagnosed by the dentist.

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If Canadians are reluctant to attend regular dental appointments due to financial concerns, what may have begun as a treatable, early-intervention ailment has now become metastatic oral cancer, threatening the individual’s life and costing the province thousands in cancer care.

One with oral cancer will undoubtedly receive care from both an oncologist and a dentist. One service covered, the other not. Oral cancer patients require a dental exam prior to radiation treatments. This exam is covered only if extractions will also take place.

Any tooth-saving procedures are not covered, leaving the cancer patient to either extract the tooth, as it’s the only option covered, pay out of pocket, or forgo necessary cancer treatments. And oral cancer is not the only cancer that requires dental intervention.

Zoledronic acid is a medication prescribed for cancer patients with boney metastases and/or prescribed hormone therapy. This drug cannot be prescribed without a dental clearance which is not covered by the province.

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Again, an underpaid and under-insured patient may forgo this cancer treatment due to financial burden associated with unexpected dental fees.

Should the cancer spread, the burden to the province to treat a palliative cancer patient will be much greater than if the patient was stable on the zoledronic acid, all because of a simple dental clearance.

The dental care plan is an excellent first step for universal dental coverage; however, it creates a new vulnerable — the under-employed and under-insured.

These Canadians are participating in the labour force and therefore their taxes are paying into the plan; however, they themselves remain under-insured for dental care.

While Canada crawls towards universal dental care, it needs to stand up and run; we can’t afford not to.

Megan Favel is a masters of social work student at Dalhousie University and works in Saskatchewan health care.

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