I would say the barriers are access to care on the part of Canadians in terms of their access. We in British Columbia are very fortunate that as dental hygienists we are able to have an independent practice. So we are able to take portable equipment chairside into long-term care facilities, looking at that extreme end of the disability range, and provide oral health services to these individuals.
We do treat severely immuno-compromised individuals and provide the oral health care they need. But we're not able to bill directly. So you have veterans in long-term care facilities who aren't able to access our services without paying out of their own pocket because we are not recognized by their dental plan as the primary oral health care provider.
In my 38 years as a dental hygienist I've seen a great change in terms of accessibility in private practice settings where we have much more.... Our operatories are larger. It's very wheelchair accessible. I think there has been quite a lot of movement towards making that an option.
But what we're calling for is the request to be able to have dental hygienists more in the community. I think with an aging population, that's really where we need to go, by the way.