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Target: BC Health Services Minister Michael de Jong
Sponsored by: Alliance for People’s Health
The state of oral health for the majority of working class and marginalized communities is in crisis. In Canada, 98% of the middle and upper classes have their natural teeth while 25% of the poor have no teeth at all. BC’s 2010 budget further cut access to dental care for people living on income assistance.
Dental and oral health cannot be separated from our overall health, yet no one at the government level is talking about expanding health care services to include dental care. This situation has to change. We believe a person’s smile should not depend on how much money they make.
We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge our leaders to act now to make access to dental care determined by need and not by ability to pay. We call on our provincial government to include basic dental services under our BC Medical Services Plan.
As someone who suffers terrible dental pain regularly because of inadequate insurance coverage and the ridiculously high cost of dental work, I support this wholeheartedly!
As a low income person, I support this initiative. I make my teeth a priority paying for the work as needed, but I certainly don’t do regular check ups as I can’t afford that.
I’m a low income working single mom; fortunately my son has been covered by the “Healthy Kids” program, but I haven’t been to a dentist in more than ten years because of the cost. I know many other people whose lives and health has been ruined by the misfortune of being born with bad teeth. Since oral health is so important to good health, and maintenance costs society less than emergency intervention, our governments should invest in the well being of all its citizens. The pay-off will come with eventual lowered health costs and increased productivity.
I currently work in the dental field as a CDA and everyday I see low income familes suffer because of inadequate dental funding. The government needs to stop making cuts to such important issues like dental treatment.