Rural Albertans encounter significant access to receiving fair, safe, and affordable dental care when sedation is needed.
The RMA recently met with the Alberta Dental Sedation Society (ADSS) to discuss how improving access to dental sedation could benefit rural communities. The RMA is committed to ensuring that rural residents receive the best possible health care in all forms, including dentistry.
Dental care is an essential health care service. Unfortunately, across rural Alberta, patients are often left with long commutes to receive dental care that requires sedation. The lack of sedation services in rural Alberta has become an increasing concern, leading to delayed or avoided treatment, higher costs, and poorer oral health outcomes.
Access to sedation for dental care services should be available for residents across the province, regardless of where they are located. However, the current Sedation Standards of Practice do not permit modern techniques that would address these challenges. Updating these standards would enable more dentists to provide comprehensive care locally, reduce patient travel and costs, and boost treatment capacity across the province.
If you have identified the lack of sedation dentistry care in your rural community, please get in touch with RMA to share your experience.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
825.319.2245
kallie@rmalberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@rmalberta.com