Let me speak to what economists call “utility”.
Jean-Denis and others wouldn't want to dig too deeply into this.
Welfare or utility well-being, to be properly defined, is a function of many variables. One of them is how much income you have. Another one is your health.
In French, we say that money can't buy health, and that is true. You cannot put a price on health.
I think we have to acknowledge that. As we're reducing poverty, which we have done very successfully through the Canada child benefit, we need to acknowledge that there are other conditions of our children that matter for their well-being. Health is one and oral health is absolutely one of them.
When we invest in those, then we increase the utility function of the family. More importantly, we increase the well-being of the whole family including the children because parents care about their children. They struggle in asking themselves where to invest their rare dollars. Do they invest them in buying clothing for school or buying nutritious food, which is very expensive, or do they bring them to see a dentist?
Unfortunately, too many of our lower-income families don't go to see a dentist because they believe they don't have the means to do so. That's very unfortunate in our collective and individual well-being functions.