Saskatchewan dentistry college meets federal dental care plan with excitement and curiosity

The dean of the University of Saskatchewan's College of Dentistry is eager to see how the federal government's new dental care plan will change healthcare in Canada, but he's equally curious to see how the plan will be implemented.

Dr. Walter Siqueira called Ottawa's $13 billion plan "a game changer" for Canadian healthcare. Being able to potentially help the nine million Canadians who could be eligible for the plan could greatly improve overall health.

"I think Canada is moving in the right direction," Siqueira said. "Oral health is part of systemic health. It's not just for tooth decay, but other diseases that start in the mouth that can affect the full body, so it's extremely important that we start to take care of our mouths as we take care of the rest of the body."

The plan is targeting people with an annual household income under $90,000 who are without private insurance.

Details of the exact services to be covered haven't yet been released, however they will include preventive, diagnostic, restorative and surgical services like fillings, root canals, dentures and X-rays.

It's those lack of details that is concerning Siqueira.

His main concern is the college's dental clinic, which sees between 15,000 and 16,000 people every year offering services at reduced rates for people who are unable to afford traditional dental care — the exact aim of the federal program.

"If this treatment is freely available in any other health care provider, the patients that we serve here at our dental clinic will be limited for our students. So the quality of the training could be affected," Siqueira said.

Every year, the dental college graduates 46 dentists, 36 dental assistants and 24 dental therapists who work at the clinic. He worries new grads and future students won't have the best training if people seek treatment somewhere else.

"We are working with our stakeholders and we are working with the federal government to try not to have this issue and continue to provide the same dental training for our students," Siqueira said.

Population and program uptake aren't major concerns for Siqueira. He feels there will be enough dentists in Saskatchewan to support the amount of people using the program. Eighty-five per cent of graduates from the program stay working in Saskatchewan.

"We are so excited that we want to know more about this plan and we are receiving information from the government," Siqueira said.