Question Period Note: Dental Care - The likely impact of the Canada Dental Benefit on children under 12

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• Access to quality dental care is an integral part of overall health and quality of life for Canadians.
• Poor oral health disproportionately impacts children from low-income families, Indigenous children, new immigrants, and children with disabilities or special health care needs.
• Giving Canadian families the means to improve their children’s oral health through the Canada Dental Benefit will mean those children have access to the care they need to not only improve their oral health but also improve their quality of life and reduce the need for more invasive and costly treatments later.
• The benefit proposed in this legislation would help break the cycle of poor oral health for the youngest Canadians by making access to dental care for children more affordable.

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• 57% of children aged six to 11 have had a cavity, with an average of 2.5 teeth affected by decay.
• In more severe cases, tooth decay in young children (early childhood caries) is an infectious disease that can cause pain, interfere with sleep and growth, and cause lifelong impacts to oral and general health.
• Dental surgery is a partial consequence of inadequate access to preventive care. Dental surgery under general anaesthesia is the most common day surgery at most pediatric hospitals in Canada, accounting for one-third of all day surgeries performed on children between the ages of one and five. The rate of surgeries is 2.5 times higher for children in the lowest income quintile, and 3.1 times higher among children living in rural neighbourhoods.
• The prevalence of tooth decay is much higher among Inuit – in 2011, more than 85% of Inuit preschoolers had dental cavities, with a mean of 8.2 teeth affected.
• An estimated 2.26 million school days were lost to oral health concerns in 2010.
• It is estimated that over 500,000