July 15, 2010
By: Rosemary Frei,M.Sc.
Canadian children who need dental treatment wait far too long to receive that care, according to the Wait Time Alliance’s 2010 Report Card, released in June.
— James Wright, M.D., University of
Toronto
From the beginning of 2009 to the end, 9,785 children underwent dental procedures at 15 pediatric academic hospitals participating in the wait-time checkup, according to the report. Most of the treatment was for early childhood caries (ECC). Another 4,608 (32% of the total) had to wait more than a year to receive the treatments they needed.
The report’s authors gave pediatric dentistry a D grade for having the lowest percentage of cases completed within their specified target window in 2009 among 10 fields of surgery. The only other discipline that received a D was pediatric ophthalmology. This is because 25.4% of children slated to have ophthalmic surgery in 2009 were still waiting to have surgery as of December.
Remainder of article can be viewed at Dr.Biscuspid.com
http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=nws&sub=rad&pag=dis&ItemId=305111&wf=33
