“The more people learn how to really take care of their teeth, the less likely they'll be in the situation where they don't have care,” she said.
“It's only until you lose your teeth that you realize how lucky you are to have them.”
Last year, Gift from the Heart serviced about 300 people in North Bay. As of Friday, six dental hygienists have agreed to volunteer their time to offer a day of free oral care. Canadore College dental hygienist students will help with charts and oral hygiene instruction this year.
Gift from the Heart is by appointment only and there are few spots left, although there will also be information available for low-income residents to learn what options they have to receive dental hygiene care.
Among them, Canadore College's dental hygiene clinic provides free dental cleaning for clients over the age of three, a full oral exam, referrals to medical doctors and dentists, nutrition counselling, oral cancer screening, quitting smoking and radiography.
Healthy Smiles Ontario, for example, is a provincial program offering oral care to children aged 17 and younger, but only if they don't have access to any dental coverage through social assistance. They have to be a member of a household with an adjusted family net income of no more than $20,000.
Low Income People Involvement of Nipissing can also direct people receiving help from the Ontario Disability Support Program to access dental care.
Since 2007, Ontario has allowed qualified dental hygienists to be self-initiated which gives them the authority to go ahead with scaling teeth, root planing and other procedures without requiring permission from a dentist.
People were not seeing a dentist for various reasons -- mainly due to cost -- and the legislation allows more options for dental hygiene care, according to the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario.
“I really support the efforts of the hygienists,” said Callander dentist Mario Lemay who assisted with the Gift from the Heart event last year.
“They came a long way. They're trying to give their profession more autonomy, trying to improve their role, and I'm really supporting that.”
Hygienists do more than remove plaque and tartar and polish teeth. They review each patient's medical history and screen for sores or lesions that might indicate oral cancer.
Hygienists also direct patients to other services if they suspect health conditions based on conversations with clients.
Gift from the Heart exposes a lot more people to dental care if they don't usually use that type of service, said Remi Morin, a dentist in the Ottawa area who formerly practised in Callander and may attend the upcoming local event.
Morin said people may wait for aesthetic reasons or pain before they seek dental care.
The only way to prevent or detect a problem is with the help of a dental hygienist, dentist and the whole oral care team, he said.
“I think it's a really important thing because it does allow people who cannot normally afford that care to (receive) that care,” Morin said.
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