Toronto increases access to emergency dental care for low-income adults

Those on Ontario Works now have access to 23 city dental clinics run by Toronto Public Health.

Thestar.com
Aug. 29, 2016
By Jennifer Pagliaro

A change in practice has meant 300 more adults with low incomes received emergency dental care this year, the mayor announced Monday.

As part of the council-approved poverty reduction strategy, those on Ontario Works now have access to 23 city dental clinics run by Toronto Public Health instead of just five provincially-funded sites - a positive change Mayor John Tory said has no immediate impact on the annual budget.

“This is the kind of collaborative, creative thinking that we’re going to have to use over and over again,” Tory said at one of the city clinics at the Scarborough Civic Centre.

A year-by-year plan that outlined how to the city would implement the approved anti-poverty initiatives included several changes that would not require significant additional money - things that could be done right away. In May, the expansion of dental care was one of those initiatives.

Last year, the city served 468 Ontario Works clients between January and July, according to a city release. In the same period this year, that number increased to 768.

Still, gaps remain.

While the city provides regular care to children under 18, pregnant women and seniors with low incomes, Deputy Mayor Pam McConnell - a veteran left-wing councillor who Tory tasked with overseeing the anti-poverty plan - noted many adults still cannot afford preventative dental care like check-ups.

Tory and McConnell said the city will be looking at ways to address that need next year as part of the poverty reduction strategy.

Substantial changes outlined in the strategy, including improving access to affordable housing and transit come at a much higher cost, one critics say the mayor and council must still make good on.

Though Tory reiterated Monday that the city has already funded the strategy with $100 million, only about a quarter of that, or $26 million, is money for new and enhanced services, he noted.

Those who work in the community say a $75 million investment is needed to make a difference at a time when Tory is asking all departments to find further reductions of at least 2.6 per cent for next year’s budget.

“We’ll be watching carefully and we’ll be hopeful that the mayor will follow through on what he said today, in that he won’t reduce services but rather expand services for the many people in need in our city,” said Michael Polanyi, a community worker with the Children’s Aid Society who is part of the city’s poverty reduction strategy advisory group.

Tory has stressed that, despite budget pressures, he will not roll back any spending on anti-poverty measures that’s already committed, or on future initiatives.

Council has not yet decided how to raise badly-needed revenue just to maintain the status quo for many services for next year, including for the TTC and Toronto Community Housing, which each face significant operating gaps.