{"id":103620,"date":"2026-04-08T13:04:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103620"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:04:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:04:51","slug":"breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking down barriers to dental care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Dentists and dental hygienists across Sovereign Dental locations in Thunder Bay were recognized for their dedication to improving oral health outcomes across Northwestern Ontario on March 31. Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families, and minister responsible for FedNor, provided certificates for the staff but was unable to present them in person due to illness. The recognition hinged on National Dentist Day and National Dental Hygienists Week, and follows a similar presentation to dental assistants earlier in March during Dental Assistants Recognition Week. &#8220;It&#8217;s great to see the team at Sovereign Dental continuing to provide high-quality care close to home,&#8221; Hajdu, member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North, told The Chronicle-Journal. &#8220;Through the Canadian Dental Care Plan, more people across our&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F08%2Fbreaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Dentists and dental hygienists across Sovereign Dental locations in Thunder Bay were recognized for their dedication to improving oral health outcomes across Northwestern Ontario on March 31. Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families, and minister responsible for FedNor, provided certificates for the staff but was unable to present them in person due to illness. The recognition hinged on National Dentist Day and National Dental Hygienists Week, and follows a similar presentation to dental assistants earlier in March during Dental Assistants Recognition Week. &#8220;It&#8217;s great to see the team at Sovereign Dental continuing to provide high-quality care close to home,&#8221; Hajdu, member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North, told The Chronicle-Journal. &#8220;Through the Canadian Dental Care Plan, more people across our... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F08%2Fbreaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breaking down barriers to dental care - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking down barriers to dental care - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Dentists and dental hygienists across Sovereign Dental locations in Thunder Bay were recognized for their dedication to improving oral health outcomes across Northwestern Ontario on March 31. Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families, and minister responsible for FedNor, provided certificates for the staff but was unable to present them in person due to illness. The recognition hinged on National Dentist Day and National Dental Hygienists Week, and follows a similar presentation to dental assistants earlier in March during Dental Assistants Recognition Week. &#8220;It&#8217;s great to see the team at Sovereign Dental continuing to provide high-quality care close to home,&#8221; Hajdu, member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North, told The Chronicle-Journal. &#8220;Through the Canadian Dental Care Plan, more people across our\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T17:04:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking down barriers to dental care\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T17:04:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":684,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/08\\\/breaking-down-barriers-to-dental-care\\\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking down barriers to dental care - 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