Financial Arrangements
In order to provide the highest quality care on a sound basis, we have developed convenient payment options for you. Prior to proceeding with treatment, fees and financial arrangements will be discussed with you.
We will always attempt to bill directly your dental insurance. However, it is understood that the patient is ultimately responsible for fees associated with services rendered.
Any balance not covered by the insurance company is due in full at the time of service.
We accept most insurance plans and payments by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, debit and cheques.
What Dental Treatment Costs in Waterdown
Cost is the reason most people give for putting off dental treatment, and it is rarely discussed as openly as it should be. This page explains how dental fees actually work in Ontario, what makes one treatment cost more than another, and how to find out what you will pay before you agree to anything.
How dental fees work in Ontario
The Ontario Dental Association publishes a Suggested Fee Guide for General Practitioners each year. It lists a standardised code for every procedure along with a suggested fee. Two things about it are widely misunderstood.
First, it is a suggested guide. Dentists in Ontario set their own fees and are not obliged to follow it. Panacea Dental is Dental Fee Guide compliant, which means our fees follow the guide rather than exceeding it.
Second, insurance companies frequently base reimbursement on a particular year of the guide, and it is not always the current one. A plan reimbursing at an older year's guide will leave a shortfall even at a practice charging exactly the current suggested fee. That gap is not an extra charge by the practice. It is a limit set by the plan.
The standardised procedure codes are useful to you: they are why a treatment plan can be sent to your insurer in advance and priced precisely rather than estimated.
What actually drives the cost of a treatment
Complexity and time. A small filling in an easily reached tooth and a large one wrapping around a back molar are different procedures, even though both are "a filling".
Laboratory work. Crowns, bridges, dentures and veneers are made by a dental laboratory. That is a real external cost and it is a large part of the fee for those treatments.
Materials. The choice between materials for a crown, or between composite and other options for a filling, changes both cost and longevity. We will explain the trade-off rather than simply quoting the cheapest.
Number of visits. Treatments such as root canal treatment or implants are staged across appointments, and the fee reflects the whole course.
Whether treatment is urgent. This is the one people underestimate. A problem caught at an examination is usually a filling. The same problem two years later may be a root canal and a crown, or an extraction plus the cost of replacing the tooth. Routine examinations and cleanings are the cheapest dentistry there is, precisely because of what they prevent.
Insurance, and how to avoid surprises
We accept most insurance plans and will always attempt to bill your insurer directly, so you pay only the remaining portion. Any balance the plan does not cover is due at the time of service. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, debit and cheque.
Three features of dental plans cause most of the confusion:
The annual maximum. Most plans cap what they will pay in a calendar year. Once it is reached the plan pays nothing further until it resets, which is why larger treatment is sometimes worth staging across two years.
Category percentages. Plans usually cover preventive work at a higher percentage than basic work, and basic higher than major work such as crowns and bridges. A plan described as "80 percent coverage" rarely pays 80 percent of everything.
Frequency limits. Cleanings and examinations are often limited to a number of units of time or visits per year, not to whatever interval is clinically ideal.
The way to remove the guesswork is a predetermination. For any treatment beyond routine care we can send the plan to your insurer before we start, and they respond in writing with exactly what they will pay. You then know your own share before committing. We would rather do this than have you find out afterwards.
The Canadian Dental Care Plan
If you do not have private dental insurance, the CDCP may cover a substantial share of your care. The phased rollout has finished and there is no longer any age restriction.
Eligibility requires adjusted family net income under $90,000, no access to private dental insurance including through work, a spouse, a parent or a pension, Canadian residency for tax purposes, and a filed and assessed tax return. Coverage is tiered: under $70,000 covers 100 percent of eligible fees, $70,000 to $79,999 covers 60 percent, and $80,000 to $89,999 covers 40 percent. A gap can remain between what the plan pays and the practice fee.
We accept the CDCP. Full detail, including what is covered and how to apply, is on our Canadian Dental Care Plan page.
A word on choosing by price alone
It is reasonable to care what something costs. It is worth knowing what the cheapest option usually is: a smaller restoration where a larger one was indicated, a material chosen for price rather than for the load that tooth carries, or treatment of the symptom rather than the cause. Redoing work costs more than doing it once, and each repeat removes more tooth. The useful question is not what a procedure costs, but what it costs over the years it is meant to last.
How to find out what you would pay
Book an examination. We will tell you what we find, what treatment is needed, what it costs, and what happens if you wait. Fees are discussed before treatment starts, not afterwards. If you would like it in writing from your insurer first, ask for a predetermination.
Call 289-408-5100 or book online. We are accepting new patients and open Monday to Friday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.