Reaction to the Yukon dental plan that rolled out last week differs depending which party you talk to: the Yukon Dental Association’s president, who’s in favour of the new benefits, says he’s more concerned about timely access to dental care in the territory than coverage.

Low-income Yukoners without access to dental benefits can now be covered under the Yukon Dental Program.

Up to 8,000 Yukoners are eligible for up to $1,300 a year in benefits, according to the Yukon government in a Jan. 4 release.

The plan covers a range of care, including relief from pain and infection, cavity treatments and preventative care like cleanings.

Early responses to the plan have been mostly positive.

“I’m ecstatic,” NDP Leader Kate White told the Star this week. “It’s a really good start to getting people the access that they need for their dental health.”

The plan is an NDP-led initiative, part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) signed in April 2021 between the third party and the governing Liberals.

That agreement will expire Jan. 31. White had told reporters in November 2022 she was frustrated with how long it was taking to implement the dental plan policy contained within it. 

White had originally wanted a universal dental plan, but said this week she’s happy the new program is in place and that thousands of Yukoners will be able to afford dental care where they couldn’t before.

“Dental health is health care,” she said. “We’re incredibly proud that this has come forward.”

Dr. Colin Nash is the president of the Yukon Dental Association (YDA). He told the Star this week that dentists are overwhelmingly supportive of any plan that makes it easier for more people to access dental care.

He said he’s also happy the government has included preventative care in the benefit.

“So you’re not just fixing problems people have,” he said. “They’ll be able to have dental hygiene appointments to help prevent problems from developing rather than just putting out the fires as they start.”

The plan is still new, so Nash said it will take time to see how easy it is for Yukoners to access the benefits through Pacific Blue Cross, the program’s third-party administrator. That’s his only direct concern with the initiative, he said.

Coverage for dental care is pretty good in the Yukon, Nash said, and the new program only improves it.

The real concern around accessibility to dental care in the territory, he said, is backlogs caused by a shortage of dentists.

“We’re stretched pretty thin, which is, I think, a general theme throughout health care in the country,” Nash said. 

“If there is a large increase in patients that have this coverage,” he said, speaking of those who will now be eligible for benefits through the government, “there’s the possibility that it may make delivering services more difficult. We haven’t seen that yet.

“But I mean, it’s something for us to keep our eyes open for.”

Nash practises at the Whitehorse Dental Clinic and is part-owner of Pine Dental Clinic.

From his own experience, he said, he’s seen wait times for dental appointments go up substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, he added, it could take a patient four to six weeks to get in for dental care. Now, he said, it can be anywhere from 2 1/2 to four months.

Although he thinks more coverage could mean more backlogs, he said it’s worth making dental care affordable to more Yukoners.

“We’re in need of more dentists in town to be able to deliver care in a more timely manner,” he said. “But that wouldn’t affect our opinion of the new dental program; we’re definitely in favour of it still.”

The Yukon Party is more skeptical.

Like White, the Yukon Party criticized the government for finishing the plan in the last month before the CASA expires. Unlike White, the YP was skeptical about the finished product. 

The official Opposition wondered whether private businesses will now remove the dental benefits they currently offer employees. 

“I’m not concerned that that will be the case,” Health Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee told the Star last week in response to that criticism. 

The YP also asked if Yukoners won’t opt out of their current plans if they feel the government offers better benefits.

Those Yukoners wouldn’t be eligible, though. The program only covers Yukoners of a certain income with no access to other benefits.

The program is open to individuals with a gross annual income of  $60,000 or less. That income threshold changes based on the size of an individual’s family.

Someone who could apply for benefits under another program, private or public, cannot access the new government benefit.

Speaking of access to other benefits, YP MLAs asked in a news release issued last week “how the Yukon Dental Program will operate with the Canada Dental Benefit,” which just went into federal legislation last month.

The federal NDP, like its Yukon counterpart, is pushing a government-funded dental plan as part of its own CASA with the federal Liberals. 

So far, the federal venture only covers children under 12 without private dental insurance. The Yukon already has preschool and school dental programs covering children up to Grade 8.

McPhee said there’s currently no overlap between the Canada Dental Benefit and the Yukon’s new program, but should that change, the territory would re-evaluate the benefits it offers. She did not commit to saying the federal program would eventually supplant the Yukon’s.

White told the Star she expects Yukoners who become eligible for the federal plan will begin accessing that first.

Uninsured Canadians of any age, with lower incomes, are slated to be eligible for the federal benefit in 2025.

Should that happen, overlap between the territorial and federal plans seems inevitable.

The Yukon government is spending $1.8 million on the program for the 2022-23 fiscal year.