Dental care programs may soon make their way to Centretown’s community health centres, with help from a recently announced provincial plan on oral health.
Last month, the province pledged $135 million over three-years to provide oral health and dental care to low-income families in Ontario by working with community health centres and public health units.
Simone Thibault, executive director of Centretown Community Health Centre, said this could mean the health centre may hire dental hygienists down the road.
“Right now, our oral health program is educational,” she said.
It is one of the three programs being addressed as part of the poverty reduction strategies announced by the McGuinty government. The other two are student nutrition and affordable housing.
Jack McCarthy, executive director of Somerset West Community Health Centre, said there is a need for dental care in the community.
“We are really excited to be part of the provincial initiative,” he said. “The need for good oral health programs has been repeatedly expressed in long standing talks with the public.”
The Children in Need of Treatment (CINOT) program will also be expanded, said Aaron Burry, the city’s dental officer of health.
At the moment, the CINOT program provides urgent dental care to children in low-income families until Grade 8 or until they turn 14. The age limit has now been extended to 18, he said.
Burry said public health units and stakeholders are waiting to hear from the province about the exact sum of money allocated to Ottawa in the upcoming weeks.
A pilot project addressing dental health care has already been running at Carlington Community and Health Services since last September, Burry said. The program aims to improve the oral health of young mothers and their children, who are able to consult a dental hygienist at the centre.
“The pilot outreach has worked very well and moms have been very happy with it,” said Michael Birmingham, executive director of Carlington Community and Health Services.
Birmingham said the pilot would be used as an example of how services could be best delivered to the community.
Adrianna Tetley, executive director of the Association of Ontario Health Centres, said it makes sense for community health centres to deliver dental services because they already target low-income families.
“We already offer comprehensive primary healthcare, and providing oral health care in the future will complement our work,” she said.
“We have advocated for many years that good oral care is an integral part of a holistic approach towards health.”