Happy Spring everyone. What an amazing winter we’ve enjoyed in Manitoba! I hope you’ve all enjoyed the same. I want to thank Dr. Adamo Notorantonio (@ADAMOELVIS) for his front-page artistic photo and all the other contributing authors.
As everyone knows, the CDCP will be fully rolled out in May 2024. As far as I have heard, the design of this plan was developed entirely without help from the CDA, not because the CDA didn’t attempt to help to assure our professional well-being, but because the Liberal Government refused to listen. So that immediately sparks the question, how is it possible that this can happen? The current government is trying to force the CDCP down our throats and make us comply, just as they did and do with healthcare. I ask all of dentistry and our membership not to sign on as CDCP practitioners. I will stress to all our members that we SHOULD NOT SIGN!
Here are some of the reasons why I am encouraging us all to say NO to the CDCP:
1. The CDCP is not free for patients, as dentists must balance bills to ensure their dental practice’s economic viability. For example, Manitoba’s established CDCP fee grid is 74% of the MDA 2024 fee guide. The government encourages all dentists not to balance bills. That means, essentially, we work for free. Why are some provinces reimbursed at a higher percentage? Should not every dentist be reimbursed the same percentage of their provincial fee guides?
2. It doesn’t protect the patient’s choice of dentist. The federal government has created an American-style HMO system where the patient can choose a provider from ‘in-network’ – if your current provider is ‘outside of the network,’ the patient cannot continue to see them and access the CDCP. The government has set us up to be greedy rich dentists who do not help the poor.
3. The administrative burden makes it difficult for patients to get the necessary care and for practices to run efficiently. How does the dental office know the family income to monitor the patient’s remaining balance on the CDCP properly? We must check the Sunlife portal before any treatment to ensure that the patient is eligible for any treatment before it is done or fear that Sunlife (who wants access to our bank accounts) will claw payments back. Sunlife will also have the right to come into our practices and audit us anytime! How did Sunlife become the sole benefactor of this billion-dollar government gift in the first place?
4. I have heard from some patients that their group benefit package from work is losing all or part of the dental benefits. Not only will this hurt patient care tremendously, but it will also hurt our offices financially. It’s unclear how existing third-party dental benefits will be protected. Will other insurance companies follow this fee grid? Again, this will be a nightmare for our offices to follow.
Other problems come to mind, like where offices will get additional qualified assistants and hygienists to take on the increased patient load that will potentially be going to the dental offices. We will need a dedicated administrative team member to do all the paperwork and background checks on patients. In conclusion, I am pleading with all practitioners to stand united and NOT SIGN ON to the CDCP until there is a plan that will be fair and seamless and not burden our offices. 
Disclaimer: This editorial is 100% this writer’s opinion and not necessarily shared by Oral Health Dental Journal.
About the Editor:
Dr. Les Rykiss graduated in 1990 with his DMD from the University of Manitoba. Since then, he has been in private practice in Winnipeg, MB. He has diplomate status with the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry (ABAD). He has Fellowship Degrees in the International Academy for Dentofacial Esthetics(FIADFE), the American Society for Dental Aesthetics (FASDA), the International Academy of Dentistry (FICD) and an Associate Fellowship in Laser Dentistry from the WCLI. He is a member of the Manitoba Dental Association, Canadian Dental Association, Winnipeg Dental Society, the Canadian Academy for Esthetic Dentistry (CAED), The American Society for Dental Aesthetics (ASDA), and past president of the Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity. He has training lectures in North America on cosmetic dentistry, digital dentistry, and hard and soft tissue laser use.
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