New dentist office on wheels caring for seniors in Toronto-run long-term care homes
There’s a new mobile dental-care program making the rounds in Toronto.
Toronto Public Health has two vans with built-in dental clinics that are travelling around the city to provide care to seniors in 10 long-term care homes operated by the city.
“Everything is on site, so it’s accessible, it’s timely and it’s free,” Dr. Karen Lee, a dentist with the mobile team, told CTV News Toronto Monday following an announcement about the program.
The vans are equipped to handle patients using wheelchairs and allow for a range of services from cleaning, fillings and x-rays to surgery and dentures.
Teams expect to care for more than 2,600 residents.
“To promote health and equity to those who could not afford it or access it,” Dr. Eileen De Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, said of the program.
The vans have already visited Kipling Acres Long-Term Care Home, Castleview Wychwood Towers and Bendale Acres Long-Term Care Home.
Resident Jovita Deguzman. 92, said she has been dealing with a few dental issues which are expensive. She is looking forward to giving the mobile clinic a try.
“Excited, happy and grateful,” she said.
While not everyone is eligible for care in the vans because it depends on their insurance, Deguzman qualifies for some of the services.
“If I go to the clinic, I have to take a taxi, or see if someone can drive me. It’s hard, it’s winter, the roads, so this is really convenient.”
The provincial government funded the program with Toronto Public Health doing the dental work.
The aim is to help bridge the link between oral care and overall health, which if unchecked, can lead to problems.
“They don’t eat well, they don’t smile well and if there’s an infection it can lead them sometimes to emergency,” said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
“It’s about making sure seniors have access to the right care in the right place,” said Stan Cho, Ontario’s Minister of Long-Term Care.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What weather experts say to expect this summer in Canada
Get ready to feel the heat, Canada. Weather experts are predicting more sunshine and warmer temperatures for the summer.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.
Israel sends tanks into Rafah on raids amid Gaza-wide offensive
Israeli tanks mounted raids across Rafah in defiance of the World Court for a second day on Wednesday, after Washington said the assault did not amount to a major ground operation in the southern Gazan city that U.S. officials have warned Israel to avoid.
Five more Ontario school boards join lawsuit against social media platforms
Five additional Ontario school boards and two independent private schools have joined a lawsuit against the owners of multiple social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
In bizarre provocation, North Korea flies trash, manure balloons over the South
North Korea flew hundreds of balloons carrying trash and manure toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country.
Introducing peanut butter during infancy can help protect against a peanut allergy later on, new study finds
New evidence suggests that feeding children smooth peanut butter during infancy and early childhood can help reduce their risk of developing a peanut allergy even years later.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.