Affordable dental care a challenge for many

Rhianon Peters has avoided oral health-care frequently due to cost. In particular, the 32-year-old Halifax cook has avoided removing inflamed and painful wisdom teeth. 

“It’s obviously dangerous to keep it [wisdom teeth] that way, because it can grow into an abscess or something like that,” Peters said. “But I couldn’t afford it, and I didn’t even really want to ask what the price was because I knew it was going to be out of my realm as someone that lived alone and worked in a kitchen.”

Recent data from Statistics Canada suggests Peters isn’t alone. The agency found one in four Canadians avoided oral health care due to cost last year.  

The report arrived as the first phase of the new federal dental care plan began last month, which covers a portion of dental treatments for people over 65, children under the age of 18, and adults with a valid disability tax credit.  

The StatCan report, released in January, also said 53 per cent of those Canadians who avoided oral health care because of cost did not qualify for the new dental-care plan.

The uninsured cost of an impacted tooth removal in Nova Scotia is around $300, and preventative care such as scaling, polish and fluoride treatments costs around $110, according to the Nova Scotia Dental Association fee guide. 

Peters said she can’t afford to pay out of pocket for preventative treatments either, even though she now has dental insurance that covers an annual amount of $250. The clinic she goes to can’t bill her insurance directly. 

“Just a couple days without that amount of money makes a difference,” she said. 

Peters also said she goes to university dental clinics because they are more affordable than the average dentist. 

The dental clinics at Dalhousie University charge about half the fee of a private dental practice in Halifax, said Tammy Wright, a professor at Dalhousie’s dental school.

The Dalhousie clinic is a teaching facility that saw more than 20,000 patients in 2024, Wright said.

The clinic began taking people covered by the Canadian dental plan this January, but Wright said it was a complicated road to get that coverage into the school’s system and to getting patients covered.

Wright said the dental plan currently doesn’t cover low-income adults either, only their children. 

“The problem is to qualify, and it’s based on your income tax return,” she said. 

According to a Statistics Canada report last year, 72 per cent of Canadians reported having visited an oral health professional in the previous 12 months. Almost two-thirds of Canadians — 64 per cent — reported having dental insurance. 

Wright added the Dalhousie clinic, over its 100 years, has always aimed to serve marginalized patients.

“It’s a way for those people to be able to access oral health care that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. And that’s a key part of our philosophy here,” Wright said.

Dalhousie dental clinics offer many of the same treatments that private practice dentists and periodontists do. Oral surgery is also taught through Dalhousie instructors who practise at the QEII. Each student providing treatment is overseen by a certified dentist, periodontist or surgeon — many of whom have private practices in Halifax as well. 

Wright said that going for preventative dental cleanings is crucial. 

“People who have infections in their mouths tend to also have other health problems, and they affect each other,” she said.

“People usually think of cavities, like they’ll have cavities, which can turn into serious infections, but also like it can affect things like people’s ability to hold down a job — or to attend school — if you have a lot of problems in your mouth and you’re in a lot of pain.”