Federal government shares information in Sudbury on Canadian Dental Care Plan

The federal government provided a local update on the Canadian Dental Care Plan in Sudbury on Tuesday.

The dental hygiene lab at College Boreal was the backdrop of the news conference.

Jean-Yves Duclos, federal Minister of Public Services and Procurement, said the plan is going extremely well.

“We know that looking after the health of our gums, our teeth, our mouth (is) very important to protect against diabetes, cardiovascular disease, against generalized infections -- that’s all very costly,” Duclos said.

“The good news is that the new Canadian Dental Care Plan now exists.”

Duclos and local Liberal MPs said that in Sudbury, 60,000 seniors are eligible under the plan and 4,000 children in families with an income of less than $90.000 and no access to private insurance.

So far, 60 dental care providers in Greater Sudbury have signed on to provide care through the plan, but as of yesterday any provider can offer it.

“What we wanted to do was make it easy as possible for the providers like dentists for them to see the patients treat the patients and the billings that are associated with that,” said Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe.

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“We have made it very easy -- there is an online portal access and dentists now are being reimbursed within a 48-hour period that will eventually be reduced even further within a 24-hour period.”

Lapointe said since the Canadian Dental Care Plan came into effect last fall, 300 seniors in Greater Sudbury have received dental care through the plan.