The Canada Dental Benefit

We all agree that in comparison to our neighbour to the south and many other industrial nations, Canada's provincial health insurance programs such as OHIP, are excellent in providing basic healthcare coverage to Canadians. But we still lag behind some industrial nations such as UK and Germany in providing basic dental care to our citizens.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), in 2018 more than one in five Canadians avoided going to the dentist due to high costs. In 2022, with the rising inflation and interest rates this trend will most likely accelerate.

For the above mentioned reasons, in the first phase, the government has committed to provide dental care benefit for uninsured children under the age of 12 with family annual income of less than $90,000 while a comprehensive long-term dental program is being developed in collaboration with provinces, territories and private enterprise. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadian children would benefit from this program (canada.ca)

The implementation of the Canada Dental Benefit is set for December 1, 2022, pending Parliamentary approvals and Royal Assent. An application platform is currently being developed by Health Canada and the CRA that would administer the Benefit payments in a timely manner.

The Canada Dental Benefit is divided into three categories:

Family adjusted net income under $70,000: $650 for each eligible child

Family adjusted net income between $70,000-$79,999:$390 for each eligible child

Family adjusted net income between $80,000-$89,999: $260 for each eligible child

The Benefit is subject to the following condition precedent:

The parent or guardian attest that the child does not have access to any private dental care coverage

The parent or guardian of the child understand that they will have out of pocket dental care expenses when they use the Benefit

The parent or guardian of the child understand that if required, they will need to provide documentation to verify out of pocket expenses

To apply for the Benefit, the parents or guardian of eligible child(ren) would need to contact the CRA individual tax enquiries line (1-800-959-8281) or apply through their “My Account CRA” on or after December 1, 2022 pending parliamentary approvals.