Canadian city set to benefit from low-cost dental programme
The Canadian city of Surrey is set to benefit from a new low-cost dental programme.
At the moment, residents from the Surrey area are forced to go to Vancouver to get reduced rate care; however, plans have been revealed to introduce a new low-cost programme in South Surrey to help people with low incomes and those without dental insurance.
The Vancouver clinic offers patients cut price care by allowing dental students to carry out the work under the supervision of professional staff. The University of British Columbia dental school has now said it would like to set up a similar system, with the establishment of a new satellite school in South Surrey.
The new clinic would operate in the same way as the existing Vancouver clinic, with students offering a full range of dental treatments, including orthodontic treatments, fillings and dentures, under the supervision of qualified dentists.
Patients using the new Surrey facility would have to pass a screening test before they could visit the clinic; this is to ensure the clinic reaches out to the people who really need help, rather than those who could afford to attend regular dental clinics. The clinic will target those with low income jobs and will charge a fraction of the cost of normal clinics; in some cases, the treatment may even be given free of charge.
Once the plans have been given the go-ahead by Surrey City Council, fundraising will begin to raise around six million dollars.
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