'We want to put the head back on the body': Dental hygienists applaud political agreement in Ottawa.

A dentist works on a patient on Monday, July 26, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Joel Martinez/The Monitor via AP)

The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) is in full support of the confidence-and-supply agreement announced this week between the federal Liberal party and the federal NDP.

“Dental caries, which is cavities, is the number one disease in the world and it's preventable,” says Ondina Love, CEO of CDHA.

Love believes the agreement will finally boost public spending on dental care in Canada.

“We are one of the lowest in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in terms of public spending on oral health care,” says Love.

She says Canada spends just six cents out of every healthcare dollar on dental care.

“It's a sickness-based system,” says Love. “It does not include mental health and it does not include oral health. So, we always say we want to put the head back on the body when we're talking about our publicly funded health care.”

In addition to helping Canadians have a nice smile, Love says dental hygienists can also be a first line of defence for identifying oral cancers or heart conditions.

In addition, she believes good oral health is good for the overall economy.

“If people don't have good oral health, it's hard for them to get employment and get jobs, especially for lower income Canadians,” says Love.

However, publicly funded dental healthcare will come at a cost.

“It would cost upwards of $4-billion in the first year,” according to Yves Giroux, Canada’s parliamentary budget officer.

In an interview with CTV’s Power Play this week, Giroux said his office was asked to “cost” the NDP’s dental plan back in 2020.

They reached that estimate based on an uninsured family with a household income of less than $90,000.

“We found in estimating the cost of that program that there is about 17 per cent of Canadians who refrain from visiting a dentist because they don't have the means or they don't want to incur that expense,” Says Giroux.

Giroux also says one-third of all Canadians do not have dental coverage.

The cost of the plan, while steep, would have a significant impact on the whole system, according to Brian Masse, NDP MPP for Windsor West. “Hospitals right now, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on emergency dental surgery, and that's going to stop.”

Masse says the agreement calls for children under age 12 to get coverage in the first year, followed by seniors, persons with disabilities the following year, then youth up to the age of 18, followed by coverage for all Canadians.

“This is the finishing of the dream of Tommy Douglas,” says Masse. “Tommy Douglas’ vision is basically from head-to-toe health care.”

In order for it to happen, Masse says the Liberals have to agree to what the NDP proposes.

“Within the first year, every child under the age of 12 should get dental care in Canada,” says Masse.“Otherwise the deal is off.”