The team at Okanagan Dentistry just returned in March from a fun, educational trip to Vancouver for the 2024 Pacific Dental Conference. This conference brings together nearly 15,000 dental professionals for three days of learning on a variety of subjects. Our team attended courses on management, clinical techniques, communication skills and leadership. Ask us what we learned next time you are in the office!
Platelet-rich fibrin to help in post-operative healing
Drs. Burlacu, Wiens and Bose-Roberts are excited to announce the addition of Platelet-Rich Fibrin (PRF) therapy to our range of services. PRF is a surgical additive that accelerates wound healing by regulating inflammation and promoting tissue regeneration. Derived from your own blood, PRF is a safe and minimally invasive option for various dental procedures, offering benefits such as reduced pain and swelling, faster recovery times, and more efficient healing.
To form PRF, the dentist will use the patient’s own blood that will be placed in a centrifuge. The technique is simple: the components of your own blood are separated out with no added chemicals needed.
Its capacity to improve wound healing makes PRF an excellent addition in surgical dental treatment. PRF can be used in conjunction with dental extractions with alveolar ridge preservation, third molar surgery, sinus lifts, dental implants, and gum surgery. Because it is coming from your own body, there are very few reasons why we cannot perform this procedure to help you with increased comfort and faster healing.
Okanagan Dentistry to host a UBC dental student this summer
We are excited to announce that we will be mentoring a dental student this July - keep an eye out for this rockstar dental student!
Hi everyone! My name is Ryan Bonnie and I’m a third-year dental student at UBC. Growing up in Kelowna I have been a long-time patient of Okanagan Dentistry. I’m excited to return home this summer and join the team at Okanagan Dentistry for my summer practitioner placement. I look forward to meeting you!
Welcome back to all the mommas returning to work!
We are so excited to announce that Dr. Bose-Roberts will be returning to work Monday-Thursday as of May 1 and our wonderful CDA’s Suzanne and Becca will also be returning from their maternity leaves. Dr. Bose-Roberts now has 3 beautiful daughters, Ella age 5, Madelyn age 3 and the newest addition, Anika aged 6 months. Suzanne welcomed her daughter Natalie, who is 20 months into their family and Becca now has a family of 4 with her daughter Eleanora age 3 and son Braxton, 10 months. We love all these Okanagan Dentistry kids!
A Note Regarding the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)
With the exciting announcement of the government’s dental plan we are getting a lot of questions from our eligible patients. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of confusion surrounding this plan. We would like to address some of the commonly asked questions below:
How can I use my Canadian Dental Care Plan? Eligible patients are issued a card with an insurance number that allows them to get partial coverage for certain dental procedures via SunLife. A dental office must sign a contract with the insurance company and, indirectly, the Canadian government, to be able to provide care covered under the CDCP.
Is it actually free for me? What is covered and what are the annual limits? There have been many misleading statements made by the federal government regarding the cost to patients. Unfortunately, the government’s “free” dental plan is not free. The fee grid for the CDCP is significantly lower than the fees in the BC Dental Association’s recommended fee guide. As a result, there will be a balance owing for treatment. The CDCP will also cover a lower percentage of their fee grid depending on adjusted household income. Treatment deemed necessary by your dentist will need to be pre-authorized, including everything from basic dental needs such as a cleaning and x-rays to anything more comprehensive. This pre-authorization particularly for more complex treatment could take up to 6 months, ultimately delaying treatment. To date, we still do not have the information to tell our patients how much coverage they will have or what their annual limits will be.
If I have a private insurance plan will I now have additional coverage with the CDCP? No, anyone who is currently covered by a private insurance plan will be ineligible for CDCP. For those patients who are currently enrolled in other government assistance programs, such as Healthy Kids or disability, we have not been advised as to how the CDCP will be integrated. There is no clear understanding of how the two plans will work together, and thus we have not been able to answer these important questions.
Can I go to any dentist and use my CDCP coverage? Unfortunately not, the only way to use the coverage is through an office that has signed up to be a provider through the plan, limiting patients’ ability to choose their oral health care provider. For example, if a patient from our practice who is eligible for CDCP is referred to a dental specialist who is not signed up for the CDCP, that patient will not be able to get reimbursement for their treatment at that office, even if that specialist is the best option. The federal plan is nearly the only dental insurance plan in Canada that does not allow this.
Has Okanagan Dentistry signed up to be a provider through the CDCP? At this time, we are working jointly with the BC Dental Association along with all provincial and territorial dental associations to improve the CDCP. We have been advised by our Association to not sign the contract until further details have been made clear, and we can use our position to strengthen our negotiations in creating a successful, well integrated government dental plan.
The Canadian Dental Care Plan has a lot of potential to provide access to subsidized dental care for many uninsured Canadians. We look forward to being able to accept this plan for our eligible patients, and there are weekly developments taking place between dentists and the government that will hopefully allow this to happen. We will keep you informed as we learn more! For those interested in a more in-depth explanation of the CDCP, please visit:
Not a day goes by that one of our patients doesn’t bring up bruxism, commonly referred to as tooth grinding! Here are some interesting facts:
Prevalence of nighttime grinding: Children 14-20%, Teenagers and adults 8-12%, over 50 years of age: 3-5%
Many children will experience bruxism between the ages of 4-6 as there is a close relationship between bruxism and airway development. Often, the complaint will drop with age and growth, but sometimes there will be other disorders that present during this important period of time in a young person’s life.
