I will be honest and say I actually don't have a direct figure on what the annual budget for NIHB is for the dental services, but I will tell you how to save money in the long term when you look at the cost of caries reduction. Right now, when someone in a remote area or in the northern part of Canada is being treated, especially children, they can be flown from northern communities down to such places like Winnipeg and Edmonton for treatment. That compounds the cost of their expensive dental care. But when you are treating someone and you're in a preventive profession, such as dental hygiene, you are reducing dental caries and dental disease. In the long term, the NIHB budget would be impacted profoundly by the fact that we would expect to see better oral health in NIHB or first nations and Inuit clientele.
On October 8th, 2009. See this statement in context.