The Canadian Dental Care Plan starts next month — but many dentists are reluctant to participate

Canadian Dental Care Program starts next month – but many dentists reluctant to participate The Canadian Dental Care Program (CDCP) is set to begin offering coverage next month – but it's unclear whether there will be enough dentists to provide services to 1. 6 million seniors who have already registered to register.

Health Canada declined to provide CBC News with a figure for the number of oral health providers that have signed up since applications opened on March 11. This section only says that "thousands of people" have registered. According to their national associations, there are approximately 26,500 dentists, 1,700 independent oral hygienists and 2,400 dental hygienists in Canada.

A total of 30,500 people. "I hear registration is slow," said Dr. Heather Carr, president of the Canadian Dental Association. "I don't think it's going to be as successful as we hoped for the program." Canada's $13 billion dental care program, announced in December, provides dental insurance to low- and moderate-income Canadians who lack private coverage.

The national program will eventually apply to a quarter of Canadians, but Ottawa is gradually enrolling those eligible, starting with seniors first. (An interim dental program has covered children under 12 since December 2022.) Seniors who find their dentists are not participating Some seniors who are eligible for coverage find that their dentists are not participating.

"I got angry," said Karen Trimingham, 82, a resident of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, who has been seeing her current dentist for 16 years. I was really angry." "I didn't think they would reject me because I am a regular customer." Trimingham said she doesn't want to drive hours from her rural community to find a dentist in another town who is enrolled in the program.

"I just have to keep paying," he said. I only do the bare minimum with the same dentist I have.” "Instead of replacing the tooth I lost a few months ago, I'm just going to stay the same." "My dentist doesn't participate either," said Joanne Thibault, 68, of Victoria. "It really bothers me that the federal government announced a dental program but didn't do their homework to set it up so my dentist could be a part of it," he said.

"I will not leave my dentist. I just want the federal government to do their job and resolve this with them so he can do his job." Society presidents don't register at their clinics Canada's dentists, oral hygienists and dental hygienists have widely supported the idea of a national public dental care program, which they say would help provide essential oral health care to people It helps those who need it the most and otherwise have to pay out of pocket.

But the heads of some provincial dental associations — who are dentists themselves — have told CBC News they don't plan to offer the program in their dental offices. They say Ottawa has yet to provide enough details to launch the program within weeks. They also say they are concerned by the fact that Ottawa requires them to sign a contract to join the program, something no other public or private program requires. "A patient should have the right to choose their dentist," said Dr. Jenny Doerksen, president of the Alberta Dental Association. "But unlike other dental programs, this federal program requires the dentist to sign a seven-page contract with many unknown factors and unnecessary terms and conditions."

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