Most federal dental plan applicants already had regular care as costs soar

CALGARY — Most Canadians receiving taxpayer-subsidized dental care were already visiting dental professionals before applying for the federal program, according to newly released government research.The findings, first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, come as the projected five-year cost of the Canadian Dental Care Plan has climbed from $13 billion to $18 billion — an increase of more than 38%.“Most Canadian Dental Care Plan members reported visiting an oral health professional before applying,” said a Department of Social Development survey.The survey found 73% of recipients had visited a dental professional within the previous three years, while 45% had received care within a year of applying for federal coverage.When asked whether they had previously avoided visiting an oral health professional for any reason, 37% of respondents said they had.The findings were published in the report Canadian Dental Care Plan: Client Experience Survey 2025–2026 and were based on responses from 2,201 program users across Canada.The department spent $147,907 on the research, which was conducted by Ottawa polling firm Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc.The dental plan was initially budgeted at $13 billion over five years but is now expected to cost $18 billion, approximately $5 billion more than originally projected.“The original funding profile when the program was approved did ramp up,” Ryan Higgs, chief financial officer for the Department of Health, told the Senate national finance committee on June 10.Federal officials have blamed the higher costs on stronger-than-expected demand from Canadians who previously could not afford dental care.“What we have seen is there has been pent-up demand that has been greater than we initially anticipated,” assistant deputy health minister Lynne René de Cotret testified before the committee last November..Dentists bare their teeth over Liberal's $13-billion plan.“Every day we realize more people are going to see their dentist,” she added.“We expect by the end of the year that number will continue to rise. That is why we asked for some advance funds.”The program subsidizes dental treatment for Canadian tax filers who do not have private or workplace insurance and whose adjusted family net income is below $90,000 annually. More than six million Canadians have qualified.Dental associations previously warned the federal subsidy could encourage employers to eliminate workplace benefits or lead people with access to private coverage to shift their dental costs onto taxpayers.“In terms of the fear for employers to drop their plan, it is a real fear,” the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association said in a 2022 submission to a Senate committee.Dr. Lynn Tomkins, then-president of the Canadian Dental Association, raised a similar concern during parliamentary hearings in 2023.“If employers were to start dropping their plans because there is some new federal plan, that is a potential concern,” she testified.Parliament amended the Income Tax Act in 2023 to require employers offering private dental insurance to disclose that coverage on employees’ annual T4 slips.The Canada Revenue Agency has not disclosed how many employers, if any, have since dropped their dental plans to reduce costs.

Most federal dental plan applicants already had regular care as costs soar

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