Poster Board 10: Designing Professional Guidance that Supports Access to Oral Health Care for All - The Dental Regulator's Journey

Lack of access to dental care can lead to negative impacts on an individual’s overall health and well-being, including pain and discomfort, difficulty eating, and loss of opportunity (Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, 2014). [...] Our early work focused on information sharing and education, including developing resources for the public and increasing continuing education opportunities and resources for dentists related to the provision of accessible care and professionalism, and engagement with health system partners. [...] We want to understand and reflect what patients and the public expect of dentists in our documents. [...] • Looking for opportunities to present our work and connect with patients, health care providers, and other interested parties at conferences and other external events to build connections with different communities to hear input to help us draft these documents. [...] o We also want to understand what patients and the public expect of dentists so we can set out expectations and guidance for dentists in regard to providing safe, inclusive, equitable, and accessible care for all.