The Canadian Dental Care Plan, in plain English
Going to the dentist can be expensive, and for many Canadians there has historically been no public plan to help with the bill. Medical care in Canada is publicly funded, but routine dental care is not part of that system for most adults. The Canadian Dental Care Plan, usually called the CDCP, was created to close part of that gap. It is a federal plan that helps pay for dental care for Canadian residents who do not have access to private dental insurance and whose family income is below a set limit.
The CDCP in one paragraph
If you are a Canadian resident for tax purposes, have filed your tax return, have no access to dental insurance, and your adjusted family net income is less than $90,000, you may qualify. The plan pays a share of its own established fees for covered services: 100% if your adjusted family net income is under $70,000, 60% if it is $70,000 to $79,999, and 40% if it is $80,000 to $89,999. The rest is your co-payment. Your provider may also charge more than the CDCP fee, and you pay that difference. The plan is administered by Health Canada, with Sun Life handling enrolment and billing, and participating providers bill Sun Life directly — you are not reimbursed after paying the full bill yourself.
This site explains the plan step by step: what it is, who qualifies, what each income tier means in dollars, which services are covered, how to find a provider who participates, how to apply, how to renew each year, how the federal plan sits alongside provincial programs, and what to do if you are refused. Every figure on this site was checked against Canada.ca, the Government of Canada's official site, on 25 October 2026. Figures can change, so treat Canada.ca/dental as the final word.
Who the plan is for
The plan is aimed at the roughly 9 million Canadian residents Canada.ca says could face financial barriers to dental care. That includes seniors, children, adults with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate, and working-age adults without workplace or private coverage. After a phased rollout that began with seniors in December 2023 and extended to children and people with disabilities in June 2024, the plan opened to all other eligible adults during 2025. There is no age test in the current rules: the four tests are residency for tax purposes, income, tax filing, and lack of access to dental insurance. See Who qualifies.
What it pays — and what it does not
The CDCP is not free dental care for everyone, and it is not full insurance. It covers a defined list of services — preventive care such as scaling and fluoride, diagnostic care such as exams and x-rays, fillings, root canal treatments, deep scaling, oral surgery such as extractions, and complete and partial removable dentures — on the recommendation of your oral health provider. Some services need preauthorization, which means approval before treatment. Bridges and implants are not part of the plan's standard coverage. See Covered services and Income tiers and co-payments.
How this site is organised
| Guide | What you will learn |
|---|---|
| What it is | How the plan works and who runs it |
| Who qualifies | The four eligibility tests, explained one by one |
| Income tiers | The co-payment table, with worked examples |
| Covered services | What is covered, what needs approval, what is not |
| Finding a dentist | How to find a participating provider and what to ask |
| How to apply | Online and phone routes, and what to have ready |
| Renewals | Why coverage ends each 30 June and how to renew |
| Provincial vs federal | How the CDCP works with provincial programs |
| If refused | Common refusal reasons and what to do next |
| FAQ | Short answers to the questions people ask most |
Two things people get wrong
First, approval is not the same as coverage starting: you need your welcome package and coverage start date before you book treatment under the plan. Second, the co-payment percentages apply to the CDCP's own established fees, not necessarily to your provider's regular fee. Always ask, before treatment begins: "What will I owe after the CDCP pays?"
Photo credits: de01.jpg — Parliament Hill, Ottawa (CC0); de02.jpg — Red maple leaf (CC BY-SA 2.5 CA); de03.jpg — Toronto skyline (CC BY-SA 4.0) All photos via Wikimedia Commons under the licences noted.