Item - 2024.HL16.6
Tracking Status
- This item was considered by Board of Health on September 9, 2024 and was adopted with amendments.
HL16.6 - Mobile Dental Care Program: 2025 Update
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Amended
- Wards:
- All
Board Decision
The Board of Health:
1. Directed the Medical Officer of Health to decommission the mobile dental bus and work with the Fleet Services Division to initiate a process to auction the bus and return any recovered funds from the auction after netting associated costs to the provincial Ministry of Health.
2. Directed the Medical Officer of Health to include $460 thousand, fully funded by the discretionary Reserve Fund for Public Health, in the 2025-2034 Capital Budget and Plan Submission for Toronto Public Health to purchase a new mobile dental van.
3. Requested the provincial Ministry of Health to allow the proceeds of the auction of Toronto Public Health’s dental bus, estimated at between $40,000 to $50,000, to be retained by Toronto Public Health and applied towards the purchase of a new mobile dental van.
Origin
Summary
The Dental and Oral Health Services program at Toronto Public Health provides integral dental and oral health care to vulnerable populations in Toronto. The Ontario Public Health Standards and the Oral Health Screening Protocol, 2021 specify the mandatory oral health services to be offered by local public health units.
As part of achieving its plan to promote health and well-being across the lifespan and advance health equity, Toronto Public Health offers a mobile dental program that currently includes two mobile dental vans and a mobile dental bus focused on supporting harder to reach populations. The mobile dental bus has been in operation since 2012, and the interior and exterior of the bus has significantly declined over the past year.
This report makes recommendations to decommission and auction the mobile dental bus and return funds collected to the provincial Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health provided the funds for the bus in 2011 through the Healthy Smiles Ontario program. A parallel request to City Council for capital funding to purchase a new mobile dental van to replace the bus is coming forward through the 2025 Budget process.
The report has been reviewed by the Fleet Services Division and Finance and Treasury Services.
Background Information
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2024/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-248181.pdf
Motions
That the Board of Health request the provincial Ministry of Health to allow the proceeds of the auction of Toronto Public Health’s dental bus, estimated at between $40,000 to $50,000, to be retained by Toronto Public Health and applied towards the purchase of a new mobile dental van.