McGill Panel Discussion on Access to Oral Health

Dr. John O’Keefe spoke with Drs. Paul Allison and Carlos Quiñonez about a recent meeting held at McGill University that centred on access to oral healthcare.

Highlights

The panel discussion was set-up as part of a 2-day symposium dealing with outreach and health delivery systems. There was much learning about models of delivery and resulting outcomes.

The panel discussion was open to the public. The panelists were made up of representatives of two groups with difficulty accessing care, those in poverty and those with physical disabilities:

• Dr. Antonia Maioni, Dean, Faculty of Arts, McGill University
• Dr. Peter White is a dentist practicing in the Gaspe area of Quebec, also representing the ODQ
• Dr. Carlos Quiñonez, Associate Professor and Director, Special Training Program, Dental Public health, faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
• Dr. Paul Allison, Dean, faculty of Dentistry, McGill University

Main Messages

• Access to care includes physical, geographic and affordability, as well as cultural barriers.
• Both patients and practitioners face cultural barriers
• There is a significant number of patients that are unable to go to a dental office and these patients carry a high proportion of the burden of dental disease

Call to Action

It is important for dentists to be creative and innovative in tackling the issue of access to oral care, which should always tied to overall health. Significant change is required if dentists are to serve the needs of the different segments of the population. Changes may include training dental students in means that could help overcome cultural and other barriers to care for underserved groups.

For change to occur, it is important to form coalitions with patient advocacy groups to help improve the situation. This is no longer an issue only for low income groups. Increasingly middle income groups are finding it difficult to afford dental care.