The Toronto Oral Health Coalition, George Brown College and University of Toronto held the first ever Symposium on Oral Health Policy May 13-15, 2004. This symposium was especially crucial and timely because:

• dentistry was excluded from consideration in the Future of Health Care in Canada (Romanow) Report;
• unlike most developed countries, Canada has no recent nation-wide survey of the oral health status of its citizens;
• there is virtually no planning for future dental provider roles or requirements;
• Canada has no national dental care program for children and expectant/new mothers – similar programs are available even in many developing countries;
• hospital-based dental clinics have been closed, having a severe impact on training and services;
• public programs for seniors and children have been cancelled;
• there are higher fees and, consequently, higher student debt for training in dentistry;
• there are extreme limits on dental coverage for those on welfare, and almost nothing for the working poor and seniors;
• Canada has income tax-free care for those with employer-paid dental insurance; and
• most importantly, no-one has accepted the challenge of improving the situation