Though only some parts of the population have access to Canada’s Dental Care Plan for now, dentists and hygienists in Quebec are warning they’re already having a hard time keeping up with an increase in demands.
According to the province’s Order of Hygienists, there has been a shortage of hygienists in the province’s regions for years, but it has since spread to larger cities.
“It reached the Montreal area, South Shore, Laval in the last year,” said Order of Hygienists President Jean-François Lortie.
“If you [haven’t seen] a dental professional in the last five, 10 or 15 years, it’s going to be hard to find a place that will be able to see you.”
According to Lortie, the province is missing at least 1,400 hygienists. While the Quebec government has expanded and added additional programs to train more, Lortie said it will take years to see an improvement as just over 300 hygienists are licensed in the province annually.
Elie El Jebaily, a dental surgeon in Terrebonne, Que., had to cut his clinic’s opening hours earlier this year because he was missing hygienists. While his clinic has since fully reopened, some of his patients still face wait times of up to six months.
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“If we lose an employee, especially a hygienist, it’s extremely difficult to replace and that has a big consequence,” Jebaily said. “It takes longer for the patients to get followed, some cavities can become extensive, some patients can get discouraged.”
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While the Canadian Dental Care Plan is only open to certain groups for now, including seniors and children under 18, Jebaily said he’s already fielding a number of calls from potential new patients wanting to access services through the program.
“The [new patients] are more in need of treatment than the ones we were seeing regularly,” said Jebaily. “Are we able to see them all? Absolutely not.”
Jebaily is also concerned the new program will add an additional layer of paperwork for his staff — it’s up to the dentists’ offices to follow up and make sure they are reimbursed for the care they offer as they can’t ask patients to pay the full amount up front.
Carl Tremblay, president of the Association chirurgiens dentistes du Quebec says this is just one of the reasons some dentists are choosing not to participate in the dental plan.
“Some dentists are not participating in the program because even before the start of the program, they weren’t taking on new patients,” Tremblay said.
“We anticipate there will be an increase in the waiting lists everywhere in Quebec, because next year, when all age groups will become eligible for the program, we are expecting there to be about three million Quebecers covered.”
Quebec still hopes to opt out
Health Minister Mark Holland maintains the program is a success.
According to Holland, over 60 per cent of Quebec’s oral hygiene providers, including dentists, denturists and hygienists, are participating in it.
“It’s been very powerful to see the impact this is having on people and it’s one of the reasons I don’t think this should be partisan,” Holland told Global News.
“Nothing important is easy. This is the largest expansion of federal health care since the advent of Medicare.”
The Quebec government is still in talks to opt out of the dental program — with full compensation and without conditions — wanting to improve Quebec’s health-care system and existing dental plan instead.
“We can continue to improve our plan and improve our services according to the needs of Quebecers,” the office of Health Minister Christian Dubé wrote in a statement.
“They have no way of stopping us from delivering the program,” Holland said. “Quebec has said this is their jurisdiction. Well, with all due respect, there are people who weren’t getting care.”
Holland added he’s still open to working with Dubé on a more robust provincial dental program, but it would have to ensure those who are covered under the federal program get the same amount of coverage.
“Go talk to a senior who doesn’t have teeth in their mouth. Go talk to somebody who’s got to walk into a job interview without teeth,” said Holland. “I’m happy to work with them if they want to take over this plan, but I don’t think the patient cares about jurisdiction.”
According to the Canadian government, some 700,000 seniors have signed up for the dental care program in Quebec alone.
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