Dentists voice fears over federal care program

OTTAWA — Dentists cannot participate in a national dental-care plan unless they know exactly how it will work, Heather Carr, president of the Canadian Dental Association, said Wednesday.

The federal health minister compared their fears to those prompted by the launch of national medicare in the 1960s.

Carr, whose organization represents provincial and territorial dental associations, said the federal program must get it right before registered seniors can start using it next month.

“We need to know what we’re agreeing to and what we’ll be able to do for the patients in order to care for them,” said Carr. “I feel that we need to get it right from the beginning.”

The program, a key pledge in the Liberals’ political pact with the NDP, is expected to provide dental coverage to uninsured families who earn a household income of under $90,000.

Registration has been rolled out in phases, and eligible seniors 65 and older are expected to begin receiving coverage.

The Liberals face criticism for the program, expected to cost $13 billion over five years, in part because of the slow uptake of oral care providers.

Health Minister Mark Holland said on Wednesday that the government is working to address dentists’ concerns by making it easier to participate without having to officially enrol. He expects to see “huge participation.”

“We’re making it a lot easier for them to participate and we’re having ongoing conversation and there’s a negotiation, obviously,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill, adding “thousands” have already signed up. Holland likened this period of negotiation to the growing pains of setting up national medicare decades ago.

“It’s reminiscent of some of the struggles that you had at the beginning of ensuring that everybody had medical care,” Holland said. “If you remember back in the 1960s, there were a lot of questions and concerns and fears that doctors had about expanding that coverage. And so any time you’re expanding coverage and creating something new, there’s going to be some challenges.”

Many dentists do not think they have enough information at this point to sign up, said Carr, a practising dentist for 36 years.

The fact that they need to sign up in the first place is something oral care providers are not used to, she said, as dentists are used to dealing directly with patients.

If a dentist wants to wait for more information before signing up, they could lose patients, said Carr. “Your existing patient may not be able to see you anymore because there is no provision,” she said, calling the overall design of the program “much more complicated than necessary.”

Dentists and hygienists have raised concerns about Ottawa’s pay structure, saying the proposed fees are lower than what patients are currently being billed. Dental associations have said some of their members are hesitant to participate in the program, citing billing concerns.