OHAF Targeted Funding Announcement

Oct. 2, 2025 | Dr. Paul Major, Professor and Chair, Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, Senior Associate Dean, Dental Affairs

Last spring, the MPSoD submitted a proposal for Health Canada’s Oral Health Access Fund. This funding was a one-time targeted call for dental schools in Canada to attract and retain patients in order to maintain high-quality clinical training experiences for undergraduate dental students. This was a great opportunity for our school, and I am delighted to announce that we were successful in securing $451,000 to support this training.  

This funding has already supported a three-week pilot summer screening clinic for new patients and promoted the services provided in the Oral Health Clinic (OHC) to attract and retain patients. The funding is also being allocated to assist undergraduate treatment providers with their patients’ treatment needs. This is a one-time, one-year investment from the federal government, and the funding will end on March 31, 2026. 

I would like to thank Dr Anthea Senior, Dr Hollis Lai, Dr Doris Lunardon, Dr Zuzanna Apel, Suzanne Roy and Cheryl Deslaurier for all their efforts to secure this funding and the continued tremendous work of all the staff led by Melanie Deveault, Nikki McGill, Melanie Chouinard and Kristine Chagnon to administer the funding. Also, thank you to all the students, faculty and staff who assisted with the summer screening clinics.  If you have any questions regarding the funding and patient eligibility, please feel free to reach out to one of the team members above.