Oral Health

• Among Ottawa residents with children 0 to 6 years of age, 94% regularly cleaned or had an adult help clean their child’s gums or teeth at bedtime. [2]
• Just over half of Ottawa households (53%) with children 0 to 6 years of age had an adult help clean children’s teeth twice a day or more, including bedtime. [2]

The Canadian Dental Association recommends the use of water as a drink between meals. [3]

• One third (30%) of children age 6 or younger had a beverage other than water (e.g., juice or milk) as the most common drink outside of meal times. [4]

Ottawa Public Health provides dental surveillance and screening of all children in Junior and Senior Kindergarten and Grade 2 in Ottawa. In schools with higher levels of early childhood dental disease, OPH provides additional dental surveillance and screening in Grades 4 and 7.

• The percent of children identified as having urgent dental needs in these school-based dental screenings increased from 5.4% to 6.3% from 2014 to 2017. [5]

The Canadian Dental Association recommends that infants be assessed by a dentist within 6 month of the eruption of their first tooth or by 12 months of age. [6]

• Only 26% of Ottawa residents with children 0 to 6 years of age surveyed in 2017 had visited a dentist with their child before their first birthday. [2] 
• Of the households where children 0 to 6 years had visited a dentist, 21% had been told that their child had a cavity, tooth decay or required a filling. [2]
• The top two reasons why children weren’t brought to the dentist before their first birthday were: “I think my child is too young” (40%) and “Baby teeth are not important” (32%). [2]
  • The average age for the first visit to the dentist, if children 0 to 6 years had not been to the dentist prior to their first birthday, was 2 years and 7 months (95% CI: 2 years and 4 months – 2 years 10 months). [2]

• Among Ottawa residents aged 12 and older, 55% rated their oral health as very good or excellent and 16% rated it poor to fair. This is not significantly different from Ontario-less-Ottawa. Those who were most likely to rate their oral health as poor to fair include [7]:
  • those with a mother tongue other than French or English (21%);
  • those living in low income (35%);
  • those with a high school education or less (22%);
  • those who immigrated less than 10 years ago (20%) and more than 10 years ago (23%); and
  • men (19%) compared to women (13%).
• Among those aged 12 and older in Ottawa, 74% have seen a dentist in the past year. This is not significantly different from Ontario-less-Ottawa. A smaller proportion had seen a dentist in the past year among [7]:
  • those living in low income (52%);
  • those with a high school education (59%); and
  • immigrants who have been in Canada 5 years or less (59%).

• In Ottawa, 73% of those aged 12 and over have dental insurance. This is higher than Ontario-less-Ottawa where 66% of those aged 12 and over have dental insurance. A smaller proportion had dental insurance among [7]:
  • those aged 65 and older (63%);
  • those living in low income (45%);
  • new Canadians who have been in Canada less than 6 years (39%); and
  • those with a mother tongue other than French or English (66%)
• In Ottawa, residents aged 12 and over without dental insurance are [7]:
  • less likely to have had a dental visit in the past 12 months (51% versus 84% with insurance);
  • over three times as likely to use dental services only in emergencies (34% versus 9% with insurance); and
  • over twice as likely to rate their oral health as fair or poor (26% versus 12% with insurance).

• Emergency department visits in Ottawa for conditions that could be treated in private dental practices, excluding traumatic dental injury, have been going up in the past 10 years (Figure 1). If primary contact dental care is obtained, these conditions should not present to an emergency room (e.g. dental caries).

Figure 1. Emergency department visits and rate per 100,000 for dental conditions best treated elsewhere, Ottawa 2008 to 2017  

1. World Health Organization: The world oral health report 2003: continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century: the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2003. [cited 2014 Jan 17]. Available from: http://www.who.int/oral_health/media/en/orh_report03_en.pdf
2. Ottawa Public Health. Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2017.
3. Canadian Dental Association website. Nutrition for children. Available from: http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/oral_health/cfyt/dental_care_children/nutrition.asp
4. Ottawa Public Health. Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2016.
5. Ottawa Public Health Dental Health Services Branch, 2014-2017. Extracted on Sep 2018
6. Canadian Dental Association website. First visit. Available from http://www.cda-adc.ca/en/oral_health/cfyt/dental_care_children/first_visit.asp
7. Ottawa Public Health. Canadian Community Health Survey. Ontario Share File 2013-2014. Statistics Canada.