A case study of five community dental clinics in British Columbia

Context There is a strong link between socio-economic status and health, and an abundance of evidence documenting the link between low-income and poor oral health in Canada.1,2,3 Those with the lowest incomes in Canada have the highest levels of oral disease yet face the most barriers to accessing dental care.4 There exists a socio- economic gradient in the use of dental services5 with less afflue [...] In 2007, the Public Health Association of BC formally requested the Provincial Health Officer address the issues of dental health inequity and equitable access to dental care services in the province.15 Several studies have concluded that people in British Columbia with public dental benefits have difficulty accessing care from dentists in private practice. [...] Victoria Cool Aid Society 5 The literature on community dental clinics both in Canada and the US confirms that clinics provide a unique and valuable role as a source of dental care to groups with traditional access barriers.35 In fact, community dental clinics have been deemed by some not as an optional method of service delivery but rather as “manda- tory” due to the shortcomings of the existing [...] The five community dental clinics were known to the researchers as the clinics in operation in the province that met the criteria for the study. [...] In addition to the dental staff, four clinics employed clinic managers with salaries drawn from dental clinic revenues and three of the clinics reported contributing to the salary of an executive director of the host agency.