U of M students ‘providers of the future’ as dental plan takes shape: families minister

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This article was published 31/03/2023 (1284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal minister responsible for child care and social development toured the University of Manitoba’s dentistry program facilities Friday, promoting the expanded $13-billion Canada dental care plan.

Karina Gould, minister of families, children and social development, met with students and faculty at the Winnipeg school’s college of dentistry before speaking publicly about the updated plan announced this week in the federal budget.

She said more than 250,000 children have been see a dentist since the first iteration was introduced four months ago: “This is real, meaningful policy that’s going to have such a positive impact on people right across this country.”

The move should help improve access for uninsured people, even in remote and northern communities, Gould said. Some of the details on reducing those barriers are still being worked out.

Gould said the federal government is having conversations with provinces and territories about how to shore up staffing and human resources planning for dentists and dental hygienists — as well as working with provinces to make it easier for internationally educated professionals across the health-care system.

As part of the new bilateral agreements with provinces for Canada Health Transfer funding, Gould said Ottawa is working “to really press provinces to work with their (regulatory) colleges to reduce those barriers in order to access some of that funding through bilateral agreements, because this isn’t an issue just in the dental field.”

“The students who are here today are going to be the providers of the future… With most of the dentists that I’ve spoken to across the country, they’re really excited about the increase in access that this is going to provide, but I think we all recognize that we need to be working in partnership to ensure that we have enough dentists, we have enough dental hygienists to deliver this program,” the minister said.

Anastasia Kelekis-Cholakis, dean of U of M’s college of dentistry, said it is already reducing barriers for internationally trained dentists, including a fellowship that began as a pilot project this year.

She said the school expects to have to expand its class sizes in the coming years to meet demand, but is currently limited by its physical space. The U of M is fundraising for new infrastructure projects.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com