The clinics, funded at a cost of $ 3 million during the first year, will serve about 22,000 people.
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Dental clinics will be established offering first-line curative and preventive care to low-income people or people living in remote regions in Quebec.
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Five pilot projects are planned in Ste-Anne-des-Monts in Gaspésie, in Gatineau, in Val-des-Sources in the Estrie region, and two clinics on the island of Montreal, the Quebec Minister of Health announced on Monday, Christian Dubé.
The five clinics will receive $ 3 million in the first year to serve some 22,000 people. The Montreal clinics are the Dentaville Clinic at Notre-Dame Hospital, which will receive $ 883,166 to hire two dentists, a dental hygienist and three other staff members, and the Jim Lund Dental Clinic at Welcome Hall Mission, which will receive $ 153,513 On one side. time dentist and assistant.
“Unfortunately, with the system that we know, there are a lot of people who are left without oral care and they shouldn’t have to,” Dubé said. “It is up to us as a government to find a solution for that.”
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The pilot projects represent a first phase to reduce inequalities in dental care and integrate dental care into the health system. If successful, a second phase could extend services to 600,000 people, or about seven percent of Quebec’s population.
No dates have been set for future phases.
When asked if this investment means that the government plans to expand universal dental care coverage, Dubé explained that it is more about solving local problems.
“We can act in regions with local problems. That is our focus, ”he said. “Here (at the Gaspésie) it is a challenge to attract dentists. It is not just a question of remuneration ”.
Ste-Anne-des-Monts Mayor Simon Deschênes noted that the Haute-Gaspésie region lost its last dentist in August. The local health authority will acquire the dentist’s office and hire two dentists and two dental hygienists.
Currently, in Quebec, public dental care is offered to children under the age of 10, residents of CHSLD long-term care homes, and those in a social assistance program.
The Quebec Order of Dentists said the announcement was “a first step toward recognizing the importance of oral care in the overall health care for Quebecers.”
He said it partially responds to a long-standing demand for the order to integrate preventive dental care into the public system. President Guy Lafrance said there is still a lot of work to do.
Reference-montrealgazette.com