Grant: Operating Grant: Population Health Intervention Research - Pathways

Similar to other Indigenous populations across the globe, the Canadian Aboriginal population suffers from oral health disparities. Aboriginal people have poorer oral health and access to care in general in comparison to the Canadian population, but those who are living in rural and remote communities have even greater oral health problems and less access to services or care. The high costs to individuals and to the system is a particular problem, along with the limited number of dentists in these isolated communities. In addition, dentists and oral health care professionals are not formally considered part of the usual primary health care team-the health professionals, such as family doctors and clinic nurses, that the public first comes into contact with when seeking care. One solution to overcome this health disparity around oral health is the visionary approach and strategic plan undertaken by the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) to implement primary oral health care services by means of integrated multidisciplinary teams. Having implemented these services in Cree communities, CBHSSJB is now ready to evaluate this approach by exploring with the community how the current preventive programme could be modified to be more effective and available in these communities. Our collaborative team brings together Cree stakeholders, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Quebec Public Dental Health, the Canadian Dental Association, and clinical and research experts to undertake this project. The results of this evaluation will be shared through knowledge transfer activities with stakeholders at community, regional, national, and international level. New knowledge from this study will help the development of a primary oral health care framework for equity in oral health care and service delivery.