Good morning,
On Friday, the Hon. Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, announced funding for a new no-cost dental program that ill be available in Ottawa, which will help ensure that eligible kids can establish and maintain good oral health.
Accessing dental care for children can be a challenge for some Ontario families, particularly for those without dental benefit coverage. The new Healthy Smiles Ontario program will ensure that kids can have regular visits with a dentist or dental hygienist. This program is anticipated to benefit about 130,000 kids throughout the province and is expected to be fully implemented locally before the end of the year.
Administered by Ottawa Public Health, the program will provide preventive dental care at no cost to kids who:
• Are 17 years and under.
• Are members of a household with an Adjusted Family Net Income of $20,000 per year or less
• Don’t have access to any form of dental coverage.
By making regular trips to a dentist or dental hygienist, kids will be able to prevent cavities and other dental problems that can contribute to diseases later in life. The program will give kids access to services like check-ups, cleaning, fillings, x-rays, scaling and more.
The Healthy Smiles Ontario program is part of our Poverty Reduction Strategy to reduce the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent over five years, and supports the five-year Open Ontario Plan to provide more access to health care services.
For more information about this program, you can visit the Healthy Smiles website, call the ServiceOntario INFOline toll-free at 1-866-532-3161 (TTY toll-free at 1-800-387-5559) or contact the Ottawa Public Health Information Line (OPHIL) at 613-580-6744. Feel free to contact my office at any time for more information about this, or any other Government of Ontario program.
Together, we are building a healthier Ottawa Centre!
Take care,
Yasir
Yasir Naqvi, MPP
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