Published March 2025
Community Dental has been fortunate to receive a grant from the Accerta Health Access Foundation Grant to support volunteer Dentists and Hygienists to provide dental services to those individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We appreciate the help of Joe Cheira, Co-ordinator for Government Relations and Advocacy, Ontario Dental Association for helping to make this grant possible.
This year there have been 9 dentists and 2 hygienists who volunteered at Community Dental and three other volunteers who help in the clinic.
The Working Centre has provided dental appointments to people who we support through our community kitchen – St. John’s Kitchen (serving over 400 people each day), Downtown Street Outreach (caseload of about 600 people), Specialized Outreach Services (caseload of 900 people who are street involved with concurrent issues of addictions and mental health), King Street Shelter (a 24/7 shelter for 100 people) and Erbs Road Shelter (a 24/7 tiny cabin shelter for 50 people). These projects generate a wide number of prospective clients for Community Dental.
All of this group in total include over 2000 individuals who The Working Centre supports all of whom are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This group consists of those who are on the margins of society, often living without long term housing, many who suffer from both addictions and mental health issues.
In 2024, there were 203 successful appointments – 164 dental appointments and 39 hygienist appointments. Part of the reality of providing dental services to those whose daily lives are unpredictable means that appointments are missed which is disappointing for our volunteers. Dentists provided services valued at $105,336 and hygienist provided services valued at $8,935 for a total value of $114,271.
How does this project benefit the community, including those who did not participate in the program?
Community Dental is a dental clinic built with volunteer and fundraised dollars by The Working Centre to specifically serve the homeless community. It is a highly marginalized group with minimal access to dental care. Over time cavities, gum disease and distortions cause by physical interactions result in significant pain. This pain is sometimes soothed by street drugs or alcohol, which only makes the pain worse in the long run. The outreach and housing workers develop relationships of trust. In total 376 appointments were made at Community Dental, but only 203 were successful with the individual showing up. Another way to look at this is that tremendous work was accomplished by outreach workers to help 203 people show up for their appointments and to receive dental care.
