Improving access to oral health care for vulnerable people living in Canada : Améliorer l'accès aux soins de santé bucco-dentaire pour les personnes vulnérables vivant au Canada

For Vulnerable People Living In Canada The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences 180 Elgin Street, Suite 1403, Ottawa, ON Canada K2P 2K3 Notice: The project that is the subject of this report was undertaken with the approval of the Board of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. [...] The process of CAHS’s work is designed to assure appropriate expertise, the integration of the best science, and the avoidance of bias and conflict of interest; the latter is a frequent dynamic that confounds solutions to difficult problems in the health sector. [...] The CAHS investigation found evidence for other problems, including: The lack of integration of dental professionals into public institutions delivering other health and social services, with a lack of options and versatility in the workforce; The organization of dental and other health care professions, including their scope of practice, does not facilitate equitable access to oral health car [...] These can be distilled to the following core problems: Vulnerable groups living in Canada have both the highest level of oral health problems and the most difficulty accessing oral health care; and The public and private oral health care systems in Canada are not effective in providing reasonable access to oral health care for all vulnerable people living in Canada. [...] In the second, the uneven distribution may be unnecessary and avoidable as well as unjust and unfair, so that the resulting health inequalities also lead to inequity in health.” The Panel’s vision and recommendations mention equity in access to oral health care for all people living in Canada, which means reasonable access to agreed-upon standards of preventive and restorative oral health care bas