A visit to the dentist is something not everyone looks forward to, but Richard Hewitt in Kingston, Ont., was counting down the days until that visit.
“I can’t wait to be able to chew my food again, seriously,” he says.
Hewitt has been dealing with an infection in his gums for almost a decade — a condition that has cost him all of his teeth.
“I had a nice set of teeth eight years ago,” he says.
Acting executive director of Our Livable Solutions, Chrystal Wilson, has been working to help people like Hewitt, and she says it is a process that has been quite difficult.
“It’s one of the areas we’ve really struggled and looked for solutions for,” says Wilson.
She says the dental benefits offered by the Ontario Disability Support Program have not kept up with the rising cost of many dental procedures.
“For a tooth extraction, ODSP is only paying $19 a tooth, when the actual cost is over $200,” says Wilson.
This makes it difficult for unhoused members of the community to get the care they need to reintegrate into society, and according to Hewitt, it takes a toll on his mental health.
“People can only live in so much pain before you get very depressed,” he says.
Wilson has had some success convincing surgeons to take on patients, and Hewitt has since had his gums treated, he even enjoyed a steak on Easter.
“It’s one of the first times he’s been able to eat beef,” says Wilson. “So it’s pretty nice to see him smiling more.”
Despite that, Wilson says she’d still like to see changes to the system, to make helping the next person achieve a healthy smile a little less like pulling teeth.