Mr. Chair, members of the committee, good afternoon. My name is Robert Sutherland. l'm the president of the Canadian Dental Association and I practise the dental specialty of periodontics in Toronto. With me is Dr. Euan Swan, CDA's manager of dental programs.
Thank you for inviting us to speak to you today about labour market shortages.
l'd first like to emphasize that there is not a shortage of dentists in Canada. Canada is on a par with other OECD countries in terms of the dentist to population ratio. This is supported by a recent Health Canada report, which indicates that a large majority of Canadians have access to and utilize the services of a dentist.
In 2010 Health Canada published an oral health report card based on the results of Statistics Canada's health measures survey. The research indicated that 75% of Canadians saw a dentist at least once a year, and 86% have seen a dentist in the past two years. This ranks Canada fifth out of the 16 OECD countries recently surveyed. According to the same Health Canada report, 84% of Canadians reported their oral health as good or excellent. When compared with other countries, Canada also has a strong dentist to population ratio. In 2007 Canada had 58 dentists per 100,000 population, which compares very favourably to the OECD average of 61.
The perception that the dental profession is experiencing a labour market shortage may arise from the observation that a small minority of Canadians do not have access to regular dental care. The groups within this minority for whom access to care is a known problem include seniors, low-income populations, people with special needs, children, and aboriginal peoples.
Overlaying this access issue is the unique geography of Canada and the challenge that distances pose with respect to the distribution of our population and labour force. The distribution issue of Canadian dentists is supported by research from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, where they point out that although 21% of the population lives in rural areas, only 11% of dentists reside in rural areas.
For these groups, we do not believe that simply increasing the number of dentists will solve the access to care challenge. Doing so will require creative thinking.
Some examples of such creative thinking are already at work. The Canadian and provincial dental associations, in cooperation with governments at all levels, are exploring unique delivery models and systems that address the access to care challenges for specific identified groups.
Successful programs from across the county include the Alberta Dental Association and College's mobile motor home dental clinics, which travel throughout Alberta and provide care; the Ontario Dental Association's remote areas program, where locum dentists are providing care to first nations communities in northwestern Ontario; and Newfoundland and Labrador's income-tested seniors dental plan.
In terms of access to dentists by rural Canadians, a significant consideration is that in some cases the traditional practice model may not be financially viable, as many rural and remote areas do not have a concentrated enough population base to support such an approach. In these areas, simply increasing the number of dentists will not alleviate the distribution issue. Non-traditional practice models such as those I mentioned earlier, as well as satellite, part-time clinic, and public health clinics are required
The final point I would like to leave you with today is that the process to enable someone to practise dentistry in Canada is solely competency-based. In order to ensure practising professionals meet the high standard that Canadians expect, the profession has developed a transparent, fair, and competency-based process. This process is not managed by the Canadian Dental Association but is overseen by the publicly accountable provincial dental regulatory bodies across Canada and the independent National Dental Examining Board of Canada. In addition, the process for admissions to our dental schools is not determined by the Canadian Dental Association. It is primarily a provincial issue. Such a process ensures that licensed Canadian dentists have the knowledge, training, and skills that are required to deliver safe and effective dental care.
In summary, there is not a shortage of dentists in Canada. There is, however, a distribution issue of existing dentists, which we believe can best be addressed through creative thinking and new approaches.
Thank you.