Breakups are never easy, but this one was especially painful. We’d been together 20 years. He knew my intense anxiety about going to the dentist (thanks to a traumatic incident when I was five and a mean, old small-town dentist slapped my face after I cried when he pulled out a tooth).
Dr. D., let’s call him, happens to also be movie-star handsome.
Beyond his good looks, he is gentle and kind and patient. When he said, “open wide,” I happily complied. Last month, we parted without saying goodbye.
It turns out our bond wasn’t as strong as I hoped. Blame the new (CDCP), a federal benefit first introduced by the NDP and passed by the Liberal government that will provide free dental care for basic services such as cleanings, fillings, X-rays and extractions for millions of Canadians who can’t afford the hefty cost of such care. Dr.
D. chose not to be part of the CDCP, not even for long-standing patients like me. His secretary broke the news.
When I asked her if he could give me a call so we could talk about it, she said, “He suggests you call the Ontario Dental Association (ODA) with your concerns.” Dr. D.
ghosted me — this, after 20 years of me and my kids sitting in his chair. This, after he earned tens of thousands of dollars from our family’s dental insurance plan over that time. The program is free for eligible people under 18 or 65 and older with a net family income of less than $90,000 and no access to dental insurance.
Next year it will be rolled out f.