The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) begins covering 1.9 million seniors today — but many patients may have to wait a while to get their dental visits covered.
Beginning May 1, coverage began for seniors 70 years and older. Those aged 65 to 69 can also now apply for the program online.
The massive public oral health-care insurance program will eventually cover one quarter of Canadian residents who don’t have private dental plans, at a cost of $13 billion over the next five years. Ottawa is rolling out eligibility gradually, starting with seniors.
“They are very excited to have their teeth cleaned because it has been many years,” said Shannon Maitland, an independent dental hygienist who runs a mobile clinic out of Carleton Place, just outside of Ottawa.
Maitland is one of the now 6,500 oral health-care providers who have signed up so far for the CDCP. But she won’t start seeing patients under the program for several weeks because she’s decided to wait and see how the initial rollout goes.
Dentists, denturists and hygienists have generally supported a national, publicly funded dental insurance program, arguing it will fill the gap of nine million low- and middle-income Canadians who have to pay for oral health care out of pocket.
