The 2-tier dental health care system.

47 Recently, I presented to the Board of Health of the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit the results of a survey of dental care among what are classified as high-risk families in one of the health unit’s programs. The survey was piggybacked on the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children (HBHC) Program, which is offered under the Mandatory Health Programs and Services Guidelines of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. One component of the HBHC Program is a lay home visiting program for high-risk families either before or just after the birth of a child. This contact with high-risk families was identified by the Dental Department of the health unit as an opportunity to obtain information on their access to dental care. With the cooperation of the Department of Nursing and the lay home visitors, families were invited to participate in a short dental questionnaire. To make the questionnaire easy to both administer and complete, it consisted of just 5 questions: 1. Do you have a dentist? 2. When did you last go to your dentist? 3. Do you think you need to see a dentist now? 4. What, if anything, has stopped you from going to a dentist? 5. If you could get a free [dental] check-up at the health unit, would you go?