As of June 27, the Canada Dental Care Plan will be accessible to more families or Canadian residents. Families with children under 18 will be able to access this plan. The CDCP works to eliminate the financial stress of dental care payments. This is especially true for those who are below a certain income cut-off per the employment benefits for full-time employees.

Canada Dental Care Plan will be accessible to more families

The plan will be executed in various phases. Reportedly, those above 65 years can access the CDCP as of December 2023.

In the second stage, adults with disabilities and children below 18 years may access the plan. This further implies that new immigrants must not pay for their children’s dental care who are between 12 and 18 years. The Canada Dental Benefit has formerly offered coverage to children below the age of 12 years.

The rest of the qualifying Canadians will have access to this plan, beginning at an unplanned date in 2025.

Temporary Residence Eligibility

According to Service Canada, those who seek to access the CDCP will need to fulfill the following criteria:

• Not have any access to a dental insurance plan.
• Possess a family net income below $90,000.
• Tax return filed in the last year.
• Be a Canadian resident for income tax goals.

The final point indicates that Canada’s temporary residents, either on work or study permits, will qualify if they hold one of the following residency codes on their most recent Assessment Notice from the Canada Revenue Agency.

The eligible residency codes include 0, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 12, while the ineligible residency codes include 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13 and 15.

Sun Life administers coverage on behalf of the Canadian government, facilitating the exchange of applicant information with the insurance company.

After it gets enrolled, Sun Life will send the following:

• Information related to the CDCP.
• A membership card.
• The starting date of the coverage.

According to Service Canada’s webpage, starting from July 8, 2024, oral health providers will have the option to directly invoice Sun Life for services rendered on a claim-by-claim basis, eliminating the need for formal enrollment in the CDCP.

After July 8, participants can visit any dentist capable of directly billing Sun Life. Prior to this date, clients must seek out dentists who have already opted into the program.

Dental care cost in Canada

New immigrants specifically suffer due to the expensive dental costs because they usually work in part-time and low-end jobs. Therefore, they often don’t get any dental insurance coverage.

In addition, Statistics Canada published a report stating that last March, part-time employment grew by 113,000 for immigrant workers and 49,000 for TFWs. Despite this, part-time employment levels declined by 126,000 for workers born in Canada.

Dental care, a medical expense not traditionally included in provincial or federal healthcare plans, requires patients to pay the full cost out-of-pocket or partially through private insurance. This encompasses expenses ranging from regular cleaning sessions and checkups to more difficult treatments like root canals or dental caps.

Visiting a dentist includes a cost aligned with a free guide published by a provincial association of dentists. However, these costs are simply recommendations only, and dentists might charge whatever appears just to them individually.