The Grantham Denture Clinic is happily participating in the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) to help out Canadians with lower incomes. CDCP is a federal government insurance plan for most dental matters (seeing a denturist, dentist, hygienist, oral surgeon, periodontist, etc.) for all Canadians making under $90,000 a year and who don’t already have insurance coverage through their work or through a private dental insurance plan. But in order for the government to assess your financial eligibility, you would have to have filed an Income Tax Return for last year. The CDCP is designed to “ease financial barriers to accessing oral health care for eligible Canadian residents.” This means that it will help those with lower incomes get needed dental care when their financial restraints may otherwise prevent them from doing so.
Sun Life Assurance Company is the insurance provider that is administering the Plan for the government, so most dealings are with them for both you and us.
Patient Information
Canadian Dental Care Plan
The government in phasing in the CDCP by age. Seniors and children are first: all eligible Canadians 65 & over and 17 & under will be covered in 2024, with the oldest people getting coverage starting May 1, 2024, people in their 70s & children June 1, and so on. People 64 and under can begin applying in 2025, but we’re still waiting on the details (it might be phased in by ages as well, as it was for seniors in 2024). However, people under 65 with a Disability Tax Credit certificate can begin applying Jun 1, 2024.
Like all insurance plans, each kind of denture procedure has frequency limits: e.g. they will only pay for new dentures every 5 or 8 years, a reline every 2 years, and so forth.
How to Apply
- Eligibility Requirements – You are eligible if: (1) you don’t already have dental insurance through your work or private insurance; (2) your adjusted family net income last year was less than $90,000; (3) you filed last year’s Income Tax Return (and received your Assessment letter); and (4) you are a Canadian resident. If you are on ODSP or Ontario Works (OW), you still qualify for CDCP because the two plans will coordinate coverage so that your portion will be less than before CDCP.
- Many people would have received an invitation in the mail between Dec 2023 – Apr 2024 with a phone number to call to apply.
- If you haven’t received that invitation letter, then you can call 1-833-537-4342 to apply.
- Starting in Nov 2024, people can apply using the online portal.
- The application procedure is very simple on the phone.
- If by phone you are told you are eligible, then you wait for your package to come in the mail with your CDCP Card, your Start Date when you can first go into a dental/denture office and other information.
- Once you receive your package, call our office to book your first appointment under CDCP. The soonest that appointment can be scheduled is on that Start Date your package specifies.
- Every year before the June 30 deadline you will need to re-enroll in the Plan (renew your card with the CDCP people) because eligibility each year is based on your previous year’s income as specified in the previous year’s Income Tax Return that you filed with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Up To 80% Coverage
PLEASE NOTE: The CDCP is NOT designed to cover 100% of dental/denture products and services in Ontario–despite the confusion the government created by telling everyone it does. What the Plan was designed to do was HELP eligible Canadians with the cost of dental care, so they have more money available, for example, for groceries. The “100%” the government keeps talking about means for people making less than $70,000 a year, their coverage of the CDCP Fee Guide prices is 100%, as opposed to people who make between $70,000-80,000 getting only 60% coverage, and income between $80,000-90,000 getting only 40% coverage.
Even extra confusion is due to the fact that the CDCP Fee Guide is less than all the official individual provincial fee guides which all offices across Canada use. For example, if an office’s provincial fee guide says $100 for something, but CDCP only pays $80 for patients in that particular province making under $70K a year (so they are at the 100% CDCP level), then the patient has to pay the extra $20 out of pocket. For patients at 60% or 40% levels, they will have to pay more out of pocket. And many offices also even charge a little bit more than their provincial fee guides for various reasons (e.g. their overhead expenses are higher), so there might be a little extra the patient pays.
In general, for denture clinics like us in Ontario, CDCP pays about 80%. So your part would only be 20%, sometimes less. (But the 60% and 40% people would have to pay more as explained above, because their annual family income is higher.)
What Denture Work Does CDCP Cover?
CDCP covers most denture work.
The exceptions are—CDCP does NOT cover:
- Implant-Retained Dentures (dentures that snap onto implant posts)
- Actually, they don’t cover any kind of denture work, period, if you have an implant on the upper or lower arch in your mouth that that denture is for—no repairs, no relines, no anything.
- Immediate Dentures With Soft Liners (an immediate denture is inserted right after you get your teeth extracted)
- Immediate Partial Cast Metal Framework Dentures
- The Soft Liner part of Relines & Rebases
- Some miscellaneous procedures.
We can let you know whether your procedure is covered and exactly what your $ portion would be.
In addition, New Partial Dentures will not be covered until Nov 1, 2024.
Steps You Need To Take To Use CDCP
- Apply for CDCP if you haven’t yet done so by calling 1-833-537-4342.
- Wait for your package to come in the mail with your CDCP card and Start Date.
- Call our office to book your free consultation appointment for whatever you need done.
- Come to your appointment and present your CDCP card to Reception. We will enter your card number into the computer and verify online that your card is active (this first time is the only time you will need to present your card).
- Based on your consultation with your denturist, we will send an estimate to Sun Life CDCP and then let you know how much they are paying and what your own balance would be. Based on this you can tell us whether you would like to proceed with the work.
- You will be responsible to pay your portion, and the rest we collect directly from Sun Life through a claim we send them electronically after the work is completed. Sun Life will only pay us directly: there is no way for you to pay us and collect from Sun Life–except you pay us your own portion that CDCP does not cover.
- Every year before the June 30 deadline you will need to re-enroll in the Plan (renew your card with the CDCP people).
Our Mission at Grantham Denture Clinic for more than 50 years (first with father Joe and now with son Tim as your denturists) has always been to bring our patients exceptional solutions, techniques and quality care to their denture needs along with a compassionate approach, creating a calming environment with confident, yet gentle, personalized denture care, always putting our patients first. We just love the joy we bring to our patients’ lives when we fit them with a denture that makes them feel whole again.
Office Hours
| Mon | 9:00am-5:00pm |
|---|---|
| Tue | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Wed | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Thu | 9:00am-5:00pm |
| Fri | Closed |
| Sat | Closed |
| Sun | Closed |
