MANITOULIN—Ken Nicoll awoke one morning to find himself in intense pain. A number of his teeth were bad and one was severely infected, and as anyone who has experienced a toothache can attest, the pain was unbearable. Being a senior on very limited means, he reached out to the provincial seniors’ dental plan and made a horrifying discovery.
“No dentist on the Island will accept it,” he alleged. “There really is no ‘plan’.”
Desperate for help, Mr. Nicoll said he was directed to a local hospital emergency room. “They told me, ‘they need to stop sending people here,’” the senior recalled. The doctors did provide him with a five-day course of antibiotics to deal with the infection, but that only provided temporary relief and soon proved inadequate to the job.
“I had to drive to Sudbury to find a dentist that would accept the provincial plan,” said Mr. Nicoll. “That took so long the medication had run out.” Even then, it was only an emergency extraction of the offending tooth that was covered. Although he has several teeth that are in dismal shape, the dentist “would only do one tooth,” he said.
“I had to drive 400 kilometres in bad shape,” he said. The pain was so bad that he could not get to sleep.
Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha noted the situation is very dire due to a number of factors.
“Number one is the income threshold,” he said. “If you are receiving Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security you make too much money—you get no coverage. Same with GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement),” he said. “These are people who are barely able to make ends meet on a good day. The province has got to bring that threshold up.”
The second factor is that so few dentists have signed up for the provincial plan. “There is no incentive,” Mr. Mantha points out. “The province pays much less than the listed price for dental services.” With limited space in the dental chair, there is actually a disincentive to take on a senior of limited means. Even when the dentist is willing to take on the task, the demand is higher than the supply.
“There is only one dentist in Elliot Lake,” said Mr. Mantha. “If he is booked, you are out of luck. You have to travel to Sault Ste. Marie and even there, good luck finding a dentist.”
Surprisingly, the provincial plan does have some fairly good coverage, including dentures, but again, the number one factor comes into play. “The income barrier,” said Mr. Mantha. “There is a need to increase the allowable income for seniors so that they can qualify.” The MPP points out that with the rapid rise in inflation and a lack of affordable housing, people are already having to decide between food and rent.
As for Mr. Nicoll, he is waiting with dread to when the next tooth inevitably starts to fail.
There may be help on the way, however, as the federal government is implementing a Canadian Dental Care Plan, expected to roll out by the end of this year.
According to the federal government release on the plan, once fully implemented, the Canadian Dental Care Plan will support up to 9 million uninsured Canadians who have an annual family net income of less than $90,000 in getting the oral health care they need, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000.
The release notes that the first stage of the procurement process for the Canadian Dental Care Plan took place between July 25 and August 22, 2022, when Public Services and Procurement Canada issued a Request for Information that sought input from industry on potential requirements and models for the new program—as a result three suppliers were chosen. A Request for Proposals was issued to the qualified suppliers in June and those suppliers had until July 20 to submit their proposals.
The federal 2023 budget proposed to provide $13 billion over five years, starting in fiscal year 2023 to 2024, along with $4.4 billion ongoing to Health Canada in order to implement the Canadian Dental Care Plan.
by Michael Erskine
