Consultative engagement objectives
In Budget 2023, the Government of Canada introduced a national dental program to be implemented by Health Canada and committed over $13 billion in funding for the administration of this program. In parallel, Statistics Canada received $23.1 million over two years "to collect data on oral health and access to dental care in Canada" and inform the rollout of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP). The funding received by Statistics Canada is being leveraged to establish a robust statistical program that includes the collection of data on Canadians' self-reported oral health status and oral health care needs, as well as data on the state of the oral health care system. Secondly, Statistics Canada is making the necessary investments required to build infrastructure for future collection activities beyond 2025.
Statistics Canada's new Oral Health Statistics Program (OHSP) aims to address oral health data needs through a comprehensive and integrated strategy that focuses on two core activities: the creation of new oral health surveys, and the acquisition and integration of administrative data on the topic.
With the creation of its new statistical program, Statistics Canada launched a series of consultative engagement sessions with key stakeholders. The objective of the engagement was to better understand stakeholder preferences for: accessing OHSP results, the format of dissemination products, and how to engage with OHSP data. This activity also aimed to informally survey the stakeholders' awareness of relevant data sources on oral health and oral health care.
Consultative engagement methods
Consultations on the Oral Health Statistics Program were conducted virtually through information sessions that included group discussions with a broad range of stakeholders from the Oral Health community. Input was received from regulatory authorities, professional associations, research networks, and other groups. The engagement sessions took place in two phases, one in the first two weeks of December 2023 and the second in the last two weeks of January 2024. These consultative engagement sessions were publicized through Statistics Canada's Consulting Canadians page. Moreover, individual stakeholders were invited by email to participate and to share the invitation with others within their network. In addition to the virtual group discussions, interested parties were offered an opportunity to provide feedback through means that included electronic forms and written submissions.
Overall, Statistics Canada moderated 10 group discussion sessions in both official languages and received feedback from 115 individuals who represented a total of 61 organizations from both the public and private sectors. These organizations—who were potential data providers and/or data users—included academia, municipal and provincial governments, and provincial and national professional associations in all oral health professions. Oral health professions including dental hygienists, dentists and dental surgeons, dental assistants, dental technicians/technologists, and dental therapists took part in the discussions. Input was also received from provincial- and federal-level regulatory bodies in oral health care.
What we heard from stakeholders
Organizations varied widely in their capabilities and experience when it came to oral health data analytics. Our consultations revealed that academic institutions, professional associations, and government agencies typically have dedicated data analytics teams, while smaller entities such as regulatory bodies tended to have limited capacity for independent data analysis.
Expressing their challenges in the current oral health data ecosystem, several stakeholders generally identified the following: limited resources to conduct analysis; barriers to data access; incomplete datasets due to the lack of integration of claims data with electronic health records, hospital admissions data for oral health issues, and provincial dental program data; organizational silos; and fatigue from responding to surveys resulting in low response rates. Despite these barriers, participants overwhelmingly expressed the potential benefits of using data from the Oral Health Statistics Program (OHSP) in support of advocacy efforts and to inform strategic decision-making. Stakeholders emphasized the importance of enabling access to aggregated, readily analyzable data, along with the flexibility to request specific datasets as needed. Notably, most organizations stated they do not conduct their own oral health surveys or maintain independent data repositories, choosing instead to leverage multiple external data sources. In sum, oral health stakeholders actively seek comprehensive, actionable data to effectively address key challenges and improve oral health outcomes.
Statistics Canada thanks participants for their contributions to this consultative engagement initiative. Their insights and experiences will be essential in developing relevant and timely data dissemination products and strategies that support data users.