As the voice of a female-dominated workforce of oral health professionals, the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) is proud to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8. CDHA recognizes this as a time to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of all women in the profession of dental hygiene.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day focuses on the necessity of investing in women to accelerate their economic empowerment. It is a critical opportunity to reflect on how to better support female professionals in oral health care.
As essential primary health care professionals, dental hygienists practise in a variety of clinical settings including traditional dental clinics and independently owned dental hygiene businesses, building more capacity for care, particularly for underserviced populations such as seniors, residents in long-term care, and people living in rural and remote communities. Under the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), dental hygienists will play an integral role in increasing access to oral health care for approximately 9 million Canadians who, in the past, might not have been able to afford to visit an oral health professional for critical preventive oral health services.
