aohc.org Oral health care programs in Ontario: Let’s move beyond band-aid solutions One in six Canadians avoid going to the dentist because they cannot afford it. AOHC believes that to truly eliminate barriers to health our longterm goal should be to ensure that oral health care is covered under OHIP so that everyone, no matter what their income, has access to quality dental care. AOHC’s strategic plan for 2012-2015 commits our organization to promoting an affordable, accessible oral healthcare program for all low-income children and adults in partnership with our members, the Ontario Oral Health Alliance and others. As part of this work AOHC has been conducting a member survey to find out which members offer oral health programs and what the challenges and successes are to date. We are particularly interested in the Healthy Smiles Ontario (HSO) program introduced in 2010 which provides preventive and early treatment dental services to children under 18. They are eligible if their adjusted family net income is under $20,000 and the family is not receiving social assistance or dental insurance coverage. Of the 36 AOHC members providing dental services, 25 community health centres and one community family health team are now participating in Healthy Smiles Ontario with funding flowed from public health units. No Aboriginal health access centres were approved for delivery despite strong interest in the program. But HSO is still a band-aid approach added to a patchwork of government programs. Feedback from our survey found that the new program is experiencing teething problems: The income eligibility criteria are too low leaving many low income children without access; There is lengthy paperwork to be completed; Most CHCs did not receive operational funding for program delivery and many are experiencing financial difficulties;
The program does not address oral health needs for the rest of the family. Our first priority is to ensure that our member centres with oral health programs are appropriately funded to deliver them. We have been meeting with MOHLTC staff to press this point.
Healthy Smiles Ontario’s teething problems include eligibility criteria set so low that many low‐income children don’t qualify But we want to go further. At an April panel on oral health at the Ontario Public Health Convention, AOHC executive director Adrianna Tetley called on the Ontario government to replace the current patchwork with a unified oral health program for all Ontarians. The first logical step is to combine Healthy Smiles Ontario and the Children in Need of Treatment (CINOT) program into one program, with a higher income eligibility level so more low income children can get the oral health services they need. AOHC is currently working with the Toronto Public Health, Dental and Oral Health Services and the Ontario Association of Public Health Dentistry to flesh out this proposal and advocate for change to the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care.
For further information on AOHC’s advocacy work on oral health please contact Jacquie Maund, Policy and Government Relations Lead, at jacquie@aohc.org.
ACTION: Postcards are coming to your centre Our survey also confirmed that there is a huge need among low income adults for oral health care. To help build public support for expanding provincial programs to include adults who cannot afford emergency dental services, AOHC is partnering with the Ontario Oral Health Alliance in a postcard campaign directed at local MPPs. AOHC members will soon receive printed postcards which we would like you to get signed over the summer. The plan is for the local AOHC member contact to collect as many signed postcards as possible and then set up a meeting with your local MPP for the fall to deliver them, discuss the issue, and seek his/her commitment to support this campaign.