Message from the President & Registrar
Dear Colleagues,
The most significant expansion of oral health care in decades has reached new milestones this summer. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is gaining great traction and patients are receiving needed care. This is great news for the oral health of so many people. In early August, Minister of Health Mark Holland announced that 450,000 Canadians have received care so far and 2.3 million Canadians have signed up to the program. Since the claim-by process has launched, over 6,500 additional professionals have begun to participate. There are now 19,000 providers across the country. This represents 75% of all oral health care professionals—70% of all dentists, according to Health Canada. Anecdotally, we are seeing many advertisements and social media posts about dental practices accepting patients on this program. We are very encouraged that dentists have opened their practices to new patients on CDCP.
There is more work to be done on the program. The federal government’s development of a pre-authorization process continues with a number of working groups, including clinicians, dedicated to this work. Services requiring preauthorization will be available starting in November. As in all programs of this size and magnitude, there will be improvements and changes as it evolves.
Early in the summer, the College hosted its first in-person RCDSO’s Connect session at Western University. It was an extraordinary evening that focused on access to care and patient/dentist communication. We were joined by several members of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry including Dr. Carlos Quiñonez, Vice Dean and Director, and Dr. Noha Gomaa, Assistant Professor Associate Director for Dentistry Research, who is also the faculty representative on Council. Council members Dr. Erin Walker and Mark Trudell, Vice President of Council, joined us at the event and in our discussions with faculty. We celebrated local access to care innovator, Dr. Wright, founder of the Wright Clinic along with his enthusiastic team. There is much more about this event later in the newsletter. We will have at least one more virtual Connect session in 2024, so please stay tuned.
Council members bring their expertise in strategic thinking, financial planning and policy development to help make decisions in the public interest. They have a fiduciary duty and a legal responsibility to act in the best interest of the public. They occupy a position of privilege, trust and confidence. We hope you received the call for Council nominations for the 2024 district election cycle. Council members have an important role in steering the College toward regulatory excellence in the interest of all Ontarians. Applicants must meet competency requirements and new applicants must complete an education module.
Applicants who have not yet undergone competency-based selection will be assessed by the Governance Committee of Council. The Committee has been undergoing training for this task, including work on identifying and addressing bias. The College is accountable to the public and to the profession for keeping the process fair and objective. There will be information about all candidates on our website on November 1st. Voting will be open from November 26th to December 11th.
As your regulator, your views and perspectives are incredibly valuable for the work that we do. We currently have two open consultations: one is on the Implant Dentistry Guideline and the other is in regard to the Advisory on Professional Dentist Patient Relationships. The purpose of these consultations is to gather your views about the current guideline/advisory to help inform the development of new guidance. Consultations are open until October 14th.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is September 30th. It is an opportunity to explore the rich and diverse culture, voices, experiences, and stories of the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples. The College will be closed that day to observe, learn and reflect.
Looking ahead, the 2nd National Indigenous Oral Health Day will take place October 15th. This day was created to highlight the oral health inequities Indigenous communities face. The College will continue to build relationships with Indigenous system partners and find ways to do our part in supporting access to culturally safe oral health care.
The care you provide every day is at the heart of all that we do. Thank you, as always, for your work in helping Ontarians stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Dr. Harinder Sandhu and Daniel Faulkner