Did you know that some organized dentists’ associations are trying to block the Canadian Dental Care Plan?
As a dentist and advocate for public dental care, I often speak to other dentists about the issue. Recently, I’ve started hearing a new type of story – dentists receiving threatening phone calls from colleagues, intimidating them with threats to stop sending them referrals if they participate in the federal government’s public dental insurance program.
As the government rolls out dental coverage for low- and middle-income Canadians, this behaviour – coupled with dentists’ associations opposing the plan – threatens to derail what would be the largest expansion of health coverage in decades.
Poor oral health worsens conditions like type II diabetes and heart disease, increases rates of aspiration pneumonia, and affects self-esteem and employability. Dental infections can lead to life-threatening infections. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) aims to provide dental insurance to those without private coverage and with a family income of less than $90,000 per year, covering 8.5 million people. However, many wonder, “Will I be able to find a provider?”
Approximately 11,000 oral health providers have signed up for the CDCP – around a third of the total. Independent dental hygienists and denturists have been more likely to sign up than dentists. Considering the messaging from the associations representing each of these groups, it is not surprising to see the disparity in providers signing up.
The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association and the Denturists Association of Canada have supported the CDCP, while the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) has criticized it from the start. In June 2022, the CDA referred to the plan as a “one-size-fits-all approach [that] has many drawbacks.” In March 2024, the president of the CDA repeated, “I am concerned that this plan was born of politics, not policy. And I fear that if it’s rushed, that it won’t be so simple to get it right.” With the possibility of a Conservative majority in the next federal election, delaying the CDCP further could mean the program’s demise.
Despite the federal government’s commitment to the CDCP, dental associations are still using their influence to undermine it. In April, the Nova Scotia Dental Association (NSDA) advised its members to withhold support for the CDCP. In May, the NSDA affirmed to its members that it would “continue to withhold support for CDCP,” a sentiment shared by other provincial associations.
As a dentist, I can confirm we’ve had enough information to sign up for months. However, dental associations know that if dentists don’t participate, the program will fail, making it easier for Conservatives to cut it. Two dentist colleagues told me that a provincial dental association president admitted this was the strategy.
Misinformation about the CDCP has spread among dentists, fueled by dental associations and magazines. Dentists have been told they will lose money and drown in paperwork if they sign up, but this is false. The CDCP fee guide is, on average, 88.6 percent of the Nova Scotia fee guide, allowing dentists to charge patients the difference.
The CDCP’s coverage is more comprehensive than any provincial program, and the administrative process is similar to that of private insurance plans. I have received payment for CDCP patients faster than for those with private insurance.
Organized dentistry needs to take its professional responsibility seriously and stop deterring dentists from the CDCP. But I won’t hold my breath. There is a long history of organized dentistry opposing public dental care, much like physicians opposed universal healthcare when it was first rolled out.
In Saskatchewan in the 1980s, organized dentistry lobbied to dismantle a successful children’s dental program. Now, children’s oral health in the province is suffering.
It is time for organized dentistry to take its professional responsibility seriously and stop swaying dentists away from the CDCP. But I won’t hold my breath. There is a long history of organized dentistry opposing public dental care, much like physicians opposed universal healthcare when it was first rolled out.
The Canadian Dental Care Plan was at a disadvantage from the beginning because organized dentistry may not want public dental care at all. The federal government should have built a public delivery model into the CDCP by directly hiring dentists and other dental providers to work in publicly owned dental clinics rather than simply covering the costs of private care. This would have ensured that patients who couldn’t find a private dentist could still receive care, pressuring private dentists to participate in the program.
I have a lot of respect my colleagues who have signed up for the CDCP, but the reality is all dental providers need to participate to make it successful. Every Canadian deserves access to dental care.
I look forward to the day we can include dental care in our universal healthcare system.
Brandon Doucet is a dentist and founder of the group Coalition for Dentalcare. He is the author of the book About Canada: Dental Care with Fernwood Publishing. This is an edited version of a commentary submitted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Troy Media Editorial Content Provider Partner.
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