Future Direction of Dental Care in Canada

The abysmal state of public dental care in Canada has been an almost completely neglected issue up until the New Democratic Party (NDP), Canada's social democratic party, campaigned on it in 2021 while other political parties at that time continued to ignore it.

With three opposition parties commanding more seats in the House of Commons, the current minority Liberal government signed a supply and confidence agreement with the NDP in March 2022. The NDP has agreed to vote with the government on all critical issues until June 2025. This agreement gives political stability for the next three years to the Liberals and, in return, the party has pledged to expand social programs in both pharmacare and dental care (Lexchin, 2022).

The Health Minister of Canada, Jean-Yves Duclos, has promised the federal government will be able to set up its proposed dental care program by the end of the year and has set aside $5.3 billion over five years for the program. The dental plan is supposed to start coverage for those under 12-years-of-age in 2022; to then expand to those under 18-years-of-age, seniors, and persons living with disability in 2023; and finally the remainder of people below the income threshold in 2025 – eventually covering 6.5 million Canadians (Lexchin, 2022). The program will be restricted to families with an income of less than $90,000 annually, with no copayments for anyone under $70,000 annually in income.

There has been no additional information at this time as to specific details of what the federal program will cover. Will it cover all types of dental procedures, such as expensive root canals and implants? Or will it be restricted to more basic work like dental cleanings and filling cavities? Who will run the plan? Will the procedure fees be lower, similar to the Non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit (NIHB) federal dental care program?

The Canadian Dental Association believes that instead of a national plan, the federal government should bolster existing provincial and territorial dental programs, so as to better manage and implement the funds into already existing health systems (Osman, 2022). However, many provinces have not had any formal talks with the federal government about this type of proposal, even though the deadline in the Liberal-NDP agreement is now less than six months away.

There are many possible issues with a federally run dental care program that could cause setbacks in ensuring quick, efficient, and targeted implementation of these new investments in dental care; however, at least Canada has finally started to take steps to consider serving the dental needs of more socioeconomic disadvantaged Canadians within the public sector.

References

Lexchin, J. (2022). After more than 50 years, Pharmacare (and dental care) are coming to Canada. International Journal of Health Services, 52(3), 341–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207314221100654

Osman, L. (2022, July 12). Feds confident dental care program will land on time. Canada's National Observer. Retrieved on July 24, 2022 from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/07/13/news/feds-confident-dental-care-program