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For years, the cost of dental care has shaped when, and sometimes whether, Canadians see a dentist.

Before the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) was introduced, nearly one-third of Canadians had no insurance covering dental expenses. The gap was considerably larger among households with lower incomes, according to federal oral health data.

Cost affected more than insurance status. Statistics Canada found that nearly half of Canadians who would have been eligible for the CDCP had avoided visiting an oral health professional because of cost. More than one-third had also avoided dental treatment that had already been recommended to them.

The CDCP was created, in part, to reduce that financial barrier. Now that millions of Canadians have enrolled and millions have used the program to access dental care, a new question is emerging:

What does expanded dental coverage actually look like at the clinic level?

National statistics can tell us how many people are enrolling and receiving care. Local dental practices can offer another perspective by showing why some of those patients are seeking care and what their dental history looked like before they arrived.

At Dr. Salim Kapadia Dental Centre in Scarborough, we reviewed anonymized intake information collected from the early CDCP rollout through September 2026. The records offer a small but useful window into how the program is appearing in everyday dental care.

Cost was already keeping many Canadians away from dental care

The access problem existed well before the CDCP.

Health Canada data show that people in lower-income households were substantially more likely to lack dental insurance than Canadians in higher-income households. They were also more likely to have gone longer than a year without seeing an oral health professional.

Statistics Canada found an even clearer pattern among people who would eventually meet CDCP eligibility criteria.

Before the program became available, nearly half reported avoiding a dental visit because of cost. Working-age adults were particularly affected, with younger and middle-aged adults among those most likely to report postponing care for financial reasons.

That matters because delaying dental care does not necessarily make the underlying problem disappear. A small issue that might have been identified during a routine examination can eventually become something that requires more extensive attention.

Reducing the financial barrier therefore has the potential to change not only how many people visit a dentist, but also when they decide to seek care.

What we are seeing in one Scarborough dental practice

CDCP patients still represent a comparatively small share of overall intake at Dr. Salim Kapadia Dental Centre.

However, identification of CDCP coverage in new intake records became noticeably more common after the program’s earliest rollout period.

That growth has not followed a straight line. The clinic saw stronger CDCP representation during 2025 than during the recorded portion of 2026, although the 2026 share remained above what was observed during the earliest months of the program.

That distinction is important.

It would be easy to look at a newly introduced public program and assume that participation simply increases every month. Our experience suggests the picture can be less linear, especially as eligibility expands, public awareness changes and different patient groups enter the program.

Many CDCP patients are seeking routine dental care

One of the more encouraging patterns in the clinic’s records is the reason patients give for seeking an appointment.

Routine examinations and cleanings were the most common reason identified among CDCP patients.

Other patients contacted the clinic because of symptoms such as pain, sensitivity, bleeding or damaged teeth, while some were seeking restorative or other treatment.

Dental coverage is often discussed in the context of helping people pay for urgent treatment. That is important, but access to routine examinations and preventive care may be equally significant over the long term.

When someone can visit a dentist before discomfort becomes the reason for the appointment, there is more opportunity to identify oral health problems earlier and discuss preventive care.

Our data cannot tell us whether CDCP coverage itself caused those routine appointments. It does show, however, that people identifying CDCP coverage are using it while seeking both preventive and problem-related dental care.

Some patients are returning after long gaps without dental care

Another notable pattern involves how long it had been since patients last saw a dentist.

A meaningful portion of identified CDCP patients reported that more than two years had passed since their previous dental care. Others reported that they had never previously attended a dentist.

Not every long gap can be attributed to cost. People postpone dental visits for many reasons, including anxiety, mobility, scheduling, lack of awareness and personal priorities.

But the local pattern is relevant when viewed beside the national evidence.

Younger adults are also becoming more visible

Public discussion around the CDCP initially focused heavily on seniors, partly because older Canadians were among the first groups eligible for the program.

The clinic’s more recent records show a broader age mix.

Young adults between 18 and 34 formed the largest age group among the identified CDCP patients in the clinic data, and they became a more prominent share of recorded CDCP submissions during 2026.

Before the CDCP was available, Statistics Canada found that young and middle-aged adults who would have qualified for the program were among the groups most likely to avoid dental visits because of cost.

A national program will ultimately be experienced one patient at a time

The CDCP is already operating at a national scale, but its impact will ultimately be seen in millions of individual decisions to seek or postpone dental care.

Federal data established the problem clearly: before the program, cost prevented many Canadians from visiting a dentist or proceeding with recommended treatment.

The early experience at our Scarborough practice adds a small local perspective to that national picture.

CDCP still represents a comparatively limited portion of the clinic’s overall intake, but among the patients who identify the coverage, routine dental care is common, younger adults are increasingly visible, and some patients report returning after substantial gaps without dental care.

These observations from one practice should not be generalized to Canada as a whole, nor do they prove that the CDCP caused these patients to seek treatment.

They do, however, illustrate why the next phase of evaluating Canada’s dental coverage expansion should look beyond enrollment alone.

The most meaningful measure may ultimately be whether people who once postponed dentistry because of cost are able to move toward earlier, more regular and more preventive oral healthcare.