The federal government is set to roll out its dental care plan in May, but some dentists aren’t happy with the terms.
The multi-billion dollar Canadian Dental Care Plan is supposed to help reduce barriers to dental care for low and middle income Canadians, if they don’t have private coverage.
Services covered in the plan include when recommended by an oral health provider:
- preventive services, including scaling (cleaning), sealants and fluoride
- diagnostic services, including examinations and x-rays
- restorative services, including fillings
- endodontic services, including root canal treatments
- prosthodontic services, including:
- complete dentures, and
- partial removable dentures
- periodontal services, including deep scaling
- oral surgery services, including extraction
The plan will reimburse a percentage of the cost, based on established fees and a person’s adjusted family net income.
According to reports by CTV News, 5,000 dental practices have signed up to participate compared to 1.7 million eligible applicants currently over the age of 70.
The government has been staggering eligibility for the place, starting with seniors over 70 in December last year. Seniors aged 65-69 will be eligible in May, while adults with a disability tax credit and children under 18 will be eligible in June.
The rest of the population will be eligible beginning in 2025.
But according to multiple dentist associations, some dentists are worried about the plan’s pay structure and paperwork load and will not be signing on until their concerns have been sufficiently addressed by the federal government.
“We haven’t seen the details yet, and as we know the devil is in the details,” Dr. Brock Nicolucci, president of the Ontario Dental Association, told CTV News in an interview on Monday.
Members of the public are also reacting to the looming rollout.
“My Father called all 5 dentists in his town. Not one of them is offering this.
Government proposed a benefit they can’t provide. Ridiculous,” one X user wrote.
“I talked to my dentist at length about this last time I was in for a filling. The compensation rates are way under the Ontario schedule, dentists that are going to participate in the CDCP are doing so out of charity,” one Reddit user wrote.
‘It wont work this time for dentists. They’ve seen what family physicians like myself are dealing with now and they won’t make the same mistake,” another Reddit user said.
For more information on eligibility and to apply to join the plan, visit the federal government’s website.
