Most people assume that I wear a mask when I go to places like gas stations, banks, and grocery stores because of COVID. But for me, it’s a very personal thing that I’m too embarrassed to reveal.
I wear dentures to hide the fact that I have no teeth.
I’ll be 75 this July, and I’m still working—not by choice, but by necessity. Despite dedicating more than 60 years of my life to work, my pension is still not enough to make ends meet. But financial hardship is only part of my predicament. Last December, I received devastating news: I needed to have all my teeth removed.
The pain of losing my teeth was hard enough, but the pain that followed was even worse.
I thought the new Canadian Dental Care Plan would cover most of the costs. A few weeks later, I learned that my application had been rejected. The reason? I wasn’t eligible for benefits because I had health insurance through my job.
This put me in a dilemma.
Having spent most of my career working in different jobs, including driving a truck in the United States, I was receiving a reduced amount of money each month from the Canada Pension Plan, and I didn’t have a lot of savings to fall back on.
My husband recently passed away, and although I have children, I refuse to be a burden to them. I have always been independent. As a mother, it is my job to take care of them, not for them to take care of me.
People often ask me why I still work. The answer is simple: rising prices leave me no choice. The prices of groceries, rent, and basic necessities have skyrocketed, and I don’t know where I would live or even how I would pay rent without my job as an apartment building superintendent.
My employer offers minimal dental insurance—only 60% of my $750 annual maximum for all benefits.
My first tooth extraction cost me $5,400. After that, I needed nearly $4,000 for dentures.
The cruelest irony? If I were fully retired, without private dental insurance, and making up to $90,000 a year, my dental care would be reimbursed. But because I work—because I work to survive and contribute to the care of the building community and residents I care for—I get nothing. It’s so humiliating.
Since January 4, I have been toothless, unable to eat solid food, living on soup, and avoiding social gatherings out of embarrassment. I have had to rely on lines of credit to make ends meet and pay for dentures. I endured the excruciating pain of having my teeth extracted, only to face the humiliation of living without them for months.
I have shared my experience with other seniors who were shocked that my dental expenses were not reimbursed. One friend was convinced that this must have been a mistake and urged me to call the program administrator to clarify. I only hope they are right – that this is just a mistake.
Despite the angry letters my sister and I sent to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, and others, I still do not qualify for this coverage.
I have worked my entire life and still struggle to afford basic medical expenses. No senior should have to go through what I have. That is why dental care for seniors must be on the federal election agenda and our government must do better.
I want to vote for a federal party that supports and plans to expand the dental care program. Although Conservative Leader Pierre Poliev has said he will keep the federal dental care program, I don’t know if he means that promise, as his party has publicly criticized it before. He has also not promised to expand dental coverage to uninsured seniors like me.
My sister and her husband recently came to visit and brought me my favorite Ottawa Crunchwraps.
I’ve frozen them, waiting for the painfully distant day when I can finally enjoy them again.