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Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps

As a key component of overall health and quality of life, oral health is recognized by public health organizations globally as a basic human right. Dentists are oral health experts involved in the primary prevention of oral injury and the detection and management of oral diseases. As regulated healt...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Levy, Ben B., Goodman, Jade, Eskander, Antoine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9510506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36149572
http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00692-y
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author Levy, Ben B.
Goodman, Jade
Eskander, Antoine
author_facet Levy, Ben B.
Goodman, Jade
Eskander, Antoine
author_sort Levy, Ben B.
collection PubMed
description As a key component of overall health and quality of life, oral health is recognized by public health organizations globally as a basic human right. Dentists are oral health experts involved in the primary prevention of oral injury and the detection and management of oral diseases. As regulated healthcare professionals, dentists identify and treat dental caries, gum disease, oral cancers, and edentulism, among other conditions. Oral diseases that go undetected and/or untreated burden patients with increased severity of disease and worse health outcomes. The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) recommends routinely scheduled reexamination and preventive care as an essential component of maintaining optimal oral health. Investments by the federal government into dental services for high-risk groups have failed to resolve pervasive oral health disparities among Canadians related to dental care affordability, accessibility, and availability. Vulnerable groups across Canada, including children, seniors in long-term care, Indigenous peoples, new immigrants with refugee status, people with special needs, and the low-income population, have been identified as having challenges accessing regular dental care. Herein, an equity-focused commentary on the current climate of oral healthcare in Canada is presented. We outline how addressing disparities in Canadian dental care will require the engagement of physicians on multiple levels of care, negotiation with both dentists and policymakers, as well as sustained oral health data collection to inform provincial and national decision-making/strategies.
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spelling pubmed-95105062022-09-26 Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps Levy, Ben B. Goodman, Jade Eskander, Antoine Can J Public Health Commentary As a key component of overall health and quality of life, oral health is recognized by public health organizations globally as a basic human right. Dentists are oral health experts involved in the primary prevention of oral injury and the detection and management of oral diseases. As regulated healthcare professionals, dentists identify and treat dental caries, gum disease, oral cancers, and edentulism, among other conditions. Oral diseases that go undetected and/or untreated burden patients with increased severity of disease and worse health outcomes. The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) recommends routinely scheduled reexamination and preventive care as an essential component of maintaining optimal oral health. Investments by the federal government into dental services for high-risk groups have failed to resolve pervasive oral health disparities among Canadians related to dental care affordability, accessibility, and availability. Vulnerable groups across Canada, including children, seniors in long-term care, Indigenous peoples, new immigrants with refugee status, people with special needs, and the low-income population, have been identified as having challenges accessing regular dental care. Herein, an equity-focused commentary on the current climate of oral healthcare in Canada is presented. We outline how addressing disparities in Canadian dental care will require the engagement of physicians on multiple levels of care, negotiation with both dentists and policymakers, as well as sustained oral health data collection to inform provincial and national decision-making/strategies. Springer International Publishing 2022-09-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9510506/ /pubmed/36149572 http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00692-y Text en © The Author(s) under exclusive license to The Canadian Public Health Association 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
spellingShingle Commentary
Levy, Ben B.
Goodman, Jade
Eskander, Antoine
Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title_full Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title_fullStr Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title_full_unstemmed Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title_short Oral healthcare disparities in Canada: filling in the gaps
title_sort oral healthcare disparities in canada: filling in the gaps
topic Commentary
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9510506/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36149572
http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00692-y
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