For the first time, we have an early indicator that the Canadian Dental Care Plan may be reducing hardship among older adults. According to new research from the National Institute on Ageing, the proportion of older Canadians who report being unable to afford dental care has dropped 5 percentage points since the program was introduced. That\u2019s not a projection or a promise. That\u2019s a measurable change in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is what public policy looks like when it works: a tangible reduction in hardship, visible within just the first year of implementation. It shows that when the government targets a real gap in people\u2019s lives, the needle can move quickly. This new data will be published in the NIA\u2019s upcoming 2025 Ageing in Canada Survey, the country\u2019s largest ongoing research initiative focused on the perspectives and experiences of Canadians aged 50 and older, providing nationally representative data on their health, income, housing, and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, oral health was treated as a luxury, not a necessity. Unless you had workplace benefits or the ability to pay out of pocket, access to dental care was often out of reach. While there were provincial programs that provided dental coverage to older adults in Canada, these initiatives were fragmented and did not reach all older adults struggling to afford oral health care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consequences went far beyond teeth. Untreated oral health problems cause pain, isolation, and poor nutrition. They can also trigger costly downstream health complications. Closing this gap has always been about more than free dental care. It has been about dignity, inclusion, and prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Introduced in 2023, the Canadian Dental Care Plan is a federal program designed to alleviate the financial barriers to oral healthcare for eligible Canadians who lack dental insurance and fall within a defined income threshold. The program was phased in by age cohorts, culminating with all adults aged 18 and older eligible to apply in May 2025. As of October 2025, more than 5 million Canadians were covered under the CDCP, and close to 3 million Canadians had received dental care through this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traditional poverty measures, like the Low-Income Measure (LIM) or the Market Basket Measure (MBM), tell us whether someone is likely to be experiencing poverty based on their income. But they don\u2019t tell us about how people\u2019s unique circumstances affect their ability to afford a basic standard of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Material Deprivation Index (MDI) fills that gap. It measures whether households can afford what most Canadians consider essential: paying utility bills, affording prescription drugs, keeping a home warm, or getting necessary dental treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, the NIA\u2019s Ageing in Canada Survey<\/em> found a 5% reduction in the proportion of Canadians reporting deprivation in dental care. That is an early indicator that the federal program is working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As NIA Senior Fellow John Stapleton has argued, government programs should be judged by whether they reduce material deprivation and not only by their price tag. Income transfers alone would likely not have been sufficient to fix the inequities in access to dental care. A universal benefit aimed directly at access to dental services is an effective way to address gaps in oral care. Poverty is multidimensional. Dental care is a concrete case study of how government can reduce hardship in ways income support alone cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Programs that reduce deprivation, whether in dental care, prescription drugs, housing, or caregiving supports, can help people live with dignity and prevent larger costs to the system down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Parliament prepares to debate the 2025 federal budget, the evidence is already in: dental care is delivering. Budget decisions should be benchmarked against whether they help the people they are intended to support. By that measure, dental care is already a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new data shows that when we measure what matters, we can design programs that make a real difference. The federal dental program is young, but it is proof that good policy works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time, we have an early indicator that the Canadian Dental Care Plan may be reducing hardship among older adults. According to new research from the National Institute on Ageing, the proportion of older Canadians who report being unable to afford dental care has dropped 5 percentage points since the program was introduced. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"image":"","link":"https:\/\/qa.yourwebsitebuild.com\/nia\/commentaries\/good-policy-you-can-measure-new-dental-care-program-is-already-benefiting-older-canadians\/","target":"","category":"Policy Should Be Judged On Impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n