More than one in four Canadians 12 years and older did not visit an oral health-care provider in the span of 12 months, new data from Statistics Canada shows.
And cost was a key factor behind that aversion.
The data, released Wednesday, came from the Canadian Oral Health Survey which collected information from Canadians from November 2023 until March 2024.
It found that overall, 28 per cent completely avoided a dentist for the span of a year.
In addition, 21 per cent of Canadians reported avoiding recommended dental treatment for the same reason.
Young adults 18 to 34 were the highest age group to report not visiting a dentist due to cost at 32 per cent. But the data showed women in this age group were more likely than men to avoid a visit, with 38 per cent not making a visit compared to 27 per cent of men.
Among racialized Canadians, 33 per cent were more likely to avoid a dental visit and 22 per cent of persons with disabilities showed avoidance.
1M have received care under Canadian dental care plan, health minister says
The StatCan data utilized information collected just before the Canadian Dental Care Plan was rolled out in December 2023. However, while data did include the first four months of the plan, as of March 2024 only seniors aged 70 and up were eligible to apply.
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All remaining eligible Canadians will be able to apply for the plan this year.
How much a person earned combined with whether they had access to insurance also had impacts on avoiding dental care, Statistics Canada says.
Those with an adjusted family net income of less than $90,000 saw 33.5 per cent avoid seeing an oral health professional, compared to just 12.1 per cent for those earning $90,000 or more.
Those below that threshold also were more likely to avoid recommended dental care at 28.3 per cent compared to 12.7 for higher-income earners.
Those who both earned under $90,000 and had no dental insurance at all — 50 per cent — were the most likely to forego a dental visit, followed by those who made more than that yet still had no insurance at 30 per cent.
Among households as a whole, the survey showed, 32 per cent had at least one member who didn’t visit a dentist because of cost and of these homes, while 63 per cent said they could not pay for the amount their insurance didn’t cover.
Another 25 per cent said they couldn’t afford to pay up front and wait for reimbursement from their insurance.
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