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On May 1, the federal government announced the activation of the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP). Health Canada has published a backgrounder with additional information on the CDCP.
The application process and eligibility criteria are available on the federal government’s Canadian Dental Care Plan web page.
Please note: No proactive action is needed for enrollment at this time, except for filing taxes for the prior year. Eligible Canadians will automatically receive letters inviting them to apply.
Before receiving treatment please note these important points about the CDCP:
The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is a federal government program that is intended to provide coverage for Canadian residents who do not have dental benefits and have a household income of less than $90,000 a year. You need to know that this is a government dental benefit; it is not a free dental program.
The CDCP is for Canadians who do not have dental benefits. It is not intended to replace benefits that people already have through work, school or private plans.
The CDCP is managed by Health Canada and administered by Sun Life. Dentists are not involved in deciding who is eligible or what services are covered.
The federal government is currently contacting the first groups of eligible citizens to inform them of the process. If you have not received a letter before May, you may not be eligible, or at least not yet.
No. The CDCP does not provide free dental care. It is a government dental benefit that covers a part of the cost of your care. You may have to pay the portion of costs that are not covered.
Patients may be required to make a co-payment (that is, pay for a portion of their dental care under the CDCP) depending on their adjusted family net income, as follows:
Dentists have the choice to bill their usual and standard fees. In addition to the potential co-payment, you may have to pay the portion of a dentist’s usual and standard fees that aren’t covered by the CDCP.
When booking your dental appointment, talk to your dentist about the costs of your treatment and any costs that won’t be covered by the CDCP.
BCDA does not have further information about the additional fees that dental offices may individually choose to bill patients enrolled in the CDCP and cannot enter into a discussion about fees on your behalf.
The federal government is currently contacting the first groups of eligible citizens. Seniors who are eligible will receive letters from Service Canada inviting them to apply, with instructions on how to validate their eligibility and apply by telephone. Dental care under the CDCP is expected to start in May 2024.
Your coverage start date is based when on when you apply and when you’ll be enrolled in the CDCP. It will be different for each person.
In May 2024, an online application portal will be open for seniors 65 and older. If you have a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate or have a child under the age of 18, you will be able to apply online as of June 2024. All remaining eligible Canadians will be able to apply online in 2025.
BCDA or any other dental associations do not run nor manage the CDCP, it is Government of Canada program. We cannot help you apply or answer questions about your eligibility for the CDCP. Get more information on eligibility.
Health Canada has stated that the following services could be covered under the CDCP, with some services only becoming available in the fall of 2024:
Some services will require preauthorization, which means prior approval is needed. This will be based on a dentist’s recommendations. Before the treatment begins, your dentist will check to see if it will be covered under the CDCP. Services requiring preauthorization will become available in November 2024.
For full information on all services covered, go to the CDCP Dental Benefits Guide.
No. The CDCP is designed for Canadian residents who do not have dental benefits. To qualify for the CDCP, you must not have access to any type of dental insurance or coverage through:
Did you know? If you’re eligible for dental coverage through your employment benefits or a professional or student organization, you are not eligible for CDCP. This is true even if you decide not to take it or use it.
The Canada Revenue Agency now requires employers to report on their T4/T4A whether their employees and their families had access to dental insurance coverage, including spending and wellness accounts.
BCDA does not recommend cancelling your existing dental coverage thinking that the CDCP will replace those benefits. Please take a careful look at your current coverage and how it compares to the CDCP. It may be that getting dental care with CDCP coverage is more costly than your private insurance. Make sure you understand all the details and costs of your coverage so that you can make the best decision for you and/or your family.
We don’t know and this should concern us all. Two-thirds of Canadians have great dental benefits from their work, school, or other group plan. These plans give them a choice of dentist, and the right to choose what dental care they get.
Dentists believe that the CDCP should improve access to care for people who don’t have benefits. The CDCP should not take away the benefits that people already have.
A recent study showed that a third of Canadians would not support a dental care plan which causes them to lose their employer-provided dental coverage. This is why we need the federal government to tell us what they are planning to do to protect your existing dental benefits.
The government has stated that the CDCP is not intended to replace existing workplace or private dental benefits. The BCDA strongly encourages employers and other groups to keep the dental benefits for their employees and members, so they don’t lose access to care.
Don’t delay treatments or your dental appointments!
We understand some people are thinking of delaying dental care or rethinking their benefit coverage, hoping the costs will be covered by the Plan.
It’s better to continue getting regular dental checkups now to catch problems before they become painful and expensive to treat, and apply for the plan when you are eligible to do so.
It’s very important to have an open dialogue with your dentist. Your dentist might be able to set up treatment and payment options that work with your financial situation. Talk to them to see what can be done to help.
Your dentist can continue to provide you with the same level of care and treatment, but the costs won’t be covered by the CDCP.
The CDCP is intended to help millions of people without dental benefits access essential oral health care. Although this is an historic investment, the CDCP has been developed under tight timelines and with limited involvement of practising dentists. It’s critical that the government has a full understanding of the impact it will have on patients trying to access the program.
Now that more details of the CDCP have been released, it’s time for the federal government to answer the big questions Canadians have:
The federal government has not answered other critical questions: How will they protect existing work, school and/or group dental benefits? How will the CDCP work with other publicly funded dental programs, including provincial programs? Without addressing these legitimate concerns, how do they expect people to know what this will mean for their dental coverage and what they should do next?
As experts in oral health care, the dental associations, representing over 25,000 dentists across the country, have pointed out that the CDCP does not meet most of the principles of our proposed framework. This is an historic investment, so it is critical that the federal government truly gets it right.
To learn more, read our latest media release.
The Canada Dental Benefit (CDB) was an interim financial benefit. This benefit ended on June 30, 2024.
The interim Canada Dental Benefit was intended to help lower dental costs for eligible families earning less than $90,000 per year. Parents and guardians could apply if the child receiving dental care is under 12 years old and does not have access to a private dental insurance plan.
Depending on your adjusted family net income, a tax-free payment of $260, $390, or $650 was available for each eligible child. This interim dental benefit was only available for 2 periods. Benefit payments were administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Applications are now closed.
Dentists know what makes a good dental care program.
Dentists across the country share a common goal: to promote optimal dental and oral health for all Canadians. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is an historic opportunity to give all people in Canada increased access to dental care. If done right, the CDCP could be one of Canada’s greatest achievements in public health.
As the experts in oral health – and the healthcare providers who deliver dental care – we know what a good dental program should look like, and we want to help the federal government make the CDCP a success.
That is why dental associations across Canada came together to develop A Proposed Framework for the Canadian Dental Care Plan (PDF). It is a comprehensive and actionable framework for a strong dental and oral health care program based on data, research, and input from dental experts.
Two-thirds of Canadians already enjoy world-class dental care, but some people must make difficult choices between their dental health and other important expenses. The CDCP is meant to help the latter group – providing dental care for those who don’t have insurance through their work, school, or other group coverage.
If employers start cutting or ending dental care benefits for their employees, it puts the whole program – and your oral health – at risk:
The government needs to make sure businesses continue to offer dental care coverage to their employees so that the CDCP can help the remaining one-third of Canadians who don’t have any dental insurance.
Patients should be able to choose their dentist. That is why the CDCP should be delivered through existing dental offices. You should be able to stay with your dentist, who knows you and your background. If you don’t have a regular dentist, you should be able to choose one who practices in your community, whose office meets your needs, and who, in some cases, can speak your language.
Patients accessing care under the CDCP should be able to get the dental care they need, when they need it – the same way people with workplace benefits do. This means the CDCP should allow patients to make decisions about their own care in partnership with their dentist. It should also have easy enrollment or registration, a quick claims process, and minimal paperwork.
Most dental offices have electronic systems to submit claims and payments between patients, dentists, and insurance companies. Most people do not have to fill out forms and wait for the government to approve their care before they can receive it. An accessible public dental care program should operate in the same way.
Most provinces and territories already have public dental care programs for families and children with low incomes, seniors and/or people with disabilities. We know the ins-and-outs of these programs because we treat the patients who depend on them. We can help inform the federal government so that the CDCP and existing provincial/territorial government dental programs work together for the people who rely on them.
Provincial and territorial dental associations have suggested fee guides developed by third-party experts. The suggested fee guides help dentists independently set fees for their practices that are fair, transparent, and predictable to both dentists and patients. By aligning the CDCP with the fee guides, dentists can continue to provide effective, equitable, high-quality dental care that all patients expect and deserve, regardless of their income.
Until the federal government can deliver a strong CDCP, we recommend at least a temporary expansion of an initiative that is already working for Canadians – the Canada Dental Benefit. This is a fixed dollar amount that a patient can use to be reimbursed for dental-related expenses. Nearly nine out of 10 Canadians support the Canada Dental Benefit, and public surveys suggest that most would support an oral health spending account as a permanent solution.
The dentists of Canada want to champion a CDCP that will respect patients, providers, and taxpayers. We all deserve a plan that works.
Read the full version of A Proposed Framework for the Canadian Dental Care Plan: A Technical Submission by the Dentists of Canada (PDF, 49 pages)
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The BC Dental Association office is located on the homelands of the Coast Salish peoples, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. BCDA gratefully acknowledges that BC dentists live and work on the unceded, traditional and ancestral homelands of Indigenous Peoples and Nations across BC.
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