To the editor:
I left a message through a local dentist's website asking a question about becoming a new patient. They conveniently have a button that says "YES, I'm a new patient!" So I thought oh, great, I haven't been to a dentist in a decade and it would be great to take care of my oral health now that I'm in my 30s.
Context: I have an exposed and impacted wisdom tooth that needs an extraction, it was recently exposed but it has been rotting away while hidden by a gum flap. I believe it has been causing a deterioration of my overall health for a few years. I've been to the walk-in clinics and ER approx. five times, each for a recurring and mysterious bacterial infection. In the end, it's just going to cost the system more than if I were to just have this tooth extracted given it's the culprit, I don't know.
I got a call from someone in Toronto, they left a message so I called the local office thinking it was them. The local office inquired about my dental issue and then said they'd have to call someone and they'd call me back to set up an appointment.
A few minutes later I was called from a 905 area code and they inquired about my dental issue but when they asked if I had dental benefits I told them "Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) will cover a cleaning and a possible extraction," the woman told me "oh, that office isn't accepting patients on ODSP." I asked her "Then why did you call me at all?" Her answer was "We didn't know that you were on ODSP and they already have patients on ODSP."
That sounds to me like an insurance company racket and they're easily able to reject new patients by just saying "We already have those kinds of people."
What does other people's method of payment have to do with my oral health?
This felt discriminatory based on how I could pay. When I called her (the 905 area code woman) out on this she said she would call the local office to see if they could take me on as a patient. She changed her tune when I told her it was discriminatory. I've yet to receive a call back from the local office and these calls all took place within 10 minutes of each other at 9:30 am.
Why does it matter where the payment comes from? Do they have an ODSP patient quota and it's full? That doesn't make any sense. They're a business and they should be taking money from any source. It sounds to me like she knew this was discriminatory but she did it anyway. There was a sense of guilt coming from her otherwise why did she say she would doubly see if they could take me on?
I was told that I could make an appointment - not a problem. I was led to believe that I could become a new patient right until I confessed that I was going to get ODSP to pay for it.
The way the current system seems to be set up is that if you don't have employment with dental benefits then you don't get dental. They don't even want you paying out of pocket - they won't say it - but they make it sound like a bigger problem than I thought of paying out of pocket.
I'm fine with paying out of pocket, especially for an emergency but the conversation didn't get that far. Even the phrase "out of pocket," seems to be made-up corporate jargon solely for the purpose of wielding it as a shock factor. Aside from insurance don't we pay for everything "out of pocket"? Shocking.
Are insurance companies paying these health companies to not accept any other forms of payment?
People on disability deserve to take care of their oral health - it's supported by ODSP and even OntarioWorks - but it's not supported on the end that matters. As of Dec. 2023, there are 496,000 people on ODSP. That number has most likely since gone up so around half a million Canadians aren't able to find a dentist simply for the crime of being disabled. Not poor but disabled.
It's not the dentists to blame.
It's not fair to both patients and dentists alike as the ODSP coverage is not enough for their overhead, so I'm not even sure where to point my finger if not the ODSP program instead of the dentists. I offered to pay cash upfront and was told "Unfortunately we're unable to do that," which only furthers my question of the insurance company.
What business doesn't accept cash upfront?
It could indeed be an issue with their scheduling or resources but I don't think it is, I was offered Barrie, but I can't get there.
I assumed, maybe wrongfully, that there are not many ODSP patients in a place like Barrie, to add to my paranoia of inadequate coverage offered.
I would like to mention that dentists' ODSP patient quota doesn't seem like public information. Who is keeping tabs on that? If nobody is then it could just be a phrase they can wield to reject anybody on ODSP. I may be wrong here but the end result is the same: this dental office is just across the street from me and I apparently can't be treated there even though payment is no longer the issue. I'd like some answers. Why did they call me to tell me that they aren't looking for new patients? They didn't start with that - they started with a medical inquiry. Someone on Reddit told me they were "always accepting new patients."
Well, unfortunately, they aren't.
I'd just like to point out that it's unfair for dentists too. It's just a half-offer of health care from ODSP if not everyone on ODSP can have it in due time. I was given an emergency number to call and I'm expecting them to tell me that it's not an emergency. I don't want "budget oral care" or something along those lines. The number they gave me, however, has their business listed on that emergency dental website. I'm expecting a run-around.
Steven Hicks,
North Bay
