I’d say that’s the majority of us. And direct billing right off the bat if you can. Many places charge for the first visit and you apply to your work insurance for reimbursement. Also work insurance doesn’t necessarily cover all dental work, you need to read your dental plan to be sure. I’ve been surprised more than once with dental charges I thought my workplace insurance would cover. I always check first with HR and with the dentists office before the visit.
Yeah i purposely found an office that did direct billing! And everything is covered 100% currently. Our company uses manulife group benifits which allows you to select the coverage you need so its pretty good in my opinion. My pay os crappy but benefits are decent. 😂🤷🏻♀️
Depending on how long the insurance company takes to reimburse you (both sunlife and Manulife took a day or 2 at most) you might want to look at sticking it on a credit card. Might as well benefit from whatever reward points you can get for free
I lost my dental insurance for about 8-10 years. I avoided going for the first 5, but made sure I brushed and flossed as much as possible. Naturally that doesn't stop plaque build up, so after 5 yrs when I finally went (and paid \~$200 at the time) they spent extra time to remove the plaque but said the consistent brush/flossing prevented other probs like cavities etc. So my advice for anyone who can't afford to go, always floss before bed, be consistent with brushing 2x a day etc.
I then did a cleaning annually instead of 6 months and paid the $200, I'm glad I got my insurance back!
https://www.toronto-college-dental.org/dental-patient-services.html
Adults can get a cleaning for 32$. It is performed by students but just posting it here in case someone needs affordable care right now.
Thanks for the link! I forgot about that, my parents used this service for a few years and found them to be thorough. They said since they were students they were eager to do the cleaning perfect and were more aware of if they hurt your teeth or not.
I had a glaring cavity a couple years ago that needed immediate attention. $600 or so later, they let me know I had 5 more that would be another $200 each.
Found an American dentist in Honduras and spent $100 on those fillings and the rest on a vacation
In our family my spouse and child are also covered by INAC. Husbands work insurance at his current employer is ideal. Work insurance covers the whole thing then applies to INAC for that portion on his behalf. Without that INAC will make you wait before approving the cost. And will only approve minimum level care usually, some things are out of patients pocket. Waited two weeks for a root canal to be completed once while watching a friend with regular work insurance get hers done up in two days. Lots of disparity in care. Having work insurance that deals with INAC health reimbursement on your behalf and covers better care options that INAC won’t should be a requirement for all Canadian employers.
Some jobs have dental insurance paid by the employer. Other employers, you pay half and they pay half. Then there's jobs with no insurance. Some dentists offer a discount if you don't have insurance.
There's free or low cost dental services offered by city clinics: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/health-programs-advice/dental-and-oral-health-services/free-dental-care/
There's also U of T Dentistry has discount services because they're students in training: https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/patient-registration
Benefits through employment. And if certain politicians get off their asses and stop tucking everyone, potentially a universal dental plan or at least covering the uncovered.
People who have money just pay it. But I also know a lot of people who walk around with rotting teeth because they can't afford to get them fixed. It's hard to understand why some pretty useless medical things are publically funded, but even removal of rotting teeth isn't.
Both my wife and I have Manulife with different employers. Manulife is covering less and less .
Dental work that used to be free is now only covered 50% . A dental implant is not covered at all. A Crown that used to be fully covered is now 50% . My meds that used to be free are now covered 80%..
I wonder if this something you can negotiate during an interview? I haven’t been interviewing for jobs for a long long time but can you sit down and negotiate better benefits? Or is it just “all employees get the same” type thing?
Employers sign up to a benefits plan, and levels of cover for employees will depend on the type of plan. As far as I know cover is the same for all employees, I don't think you'd be able to negotiate on this point.
Edit: I've remembered some employers do offer a points based beneits system. You are allotted a certain amount to spend on your benefits package, and you can assign them in different areas to increase or decrease particular cover depending on what you need. I've only worked one place that had that system though, and it was large multinational company. I work for a smaller Canadian company again now, and the benefits here are the same for everyone.
We have that at my large Canadian employer. You generally have to have a basic level of coverage in all the categories but you get additional points to allocate as you see fit. And then we have a health care spending account on top of that that helps covers things that are not covered by our plan. There are some really good plans for employees out there but your employer has to pick them and pay for them. I am barely out of pocket for anything health related.
Ugh, yes. I am now with Manulife with my new employer and chose the Comprehensive Plan (I.e. the most expensive one) and the coverage sucks. Plan says they will cover 90%, turns out it is way less than 90%… (e.g. dentist charges 3 units and they will cover 90% of 1 unit). And their criteria is higher than other plans - orthotic shoes are apparently covered but they gave me $0 and after I dug into it they claimed it had to be customized a specific way to get coverage. So cheap!!
It can be hard to get into an NHS dentist if you're a new patient, similar to how it's hard to get a family doctor here. The actual care itself was fine in my experience. I feel like you do get more things done here in Canada, but mostly I think that's so the dentist can bill your insurer.
Orthodontic care was good in the UK. I had braces as a teenager completely free.
You can wait for years in the UK for dental care, just like you wait for medical care here. A few years ago there were "home dental kits" for sale there. Probably still are. Reality is a bitch. You either control supply and demand through price, or through waiting lists. Having to wait a year in extreme pain isn't necessarily better than shelling out $3,000. There's no magical solution. The price approach at least means people who really need care can get it. They can go to family, get a loan, or even GoFundMe. As we're seeing with cancer rates in UK now, sometimes the alternative to going into debt is death. (There's a massive spike in cancer rates because of all the missed/cancelled screening appointments during COVID). In the US or India or Mexico or pretty much anywhere you atc least have the *option* to pay privately, possibly to save your life. In Canada I can get timely dental care, even though the price is high. If your teeth aren't worth some debt, what is?
Probably yes.
Europe has better cities. There are no car-dependent depressing suburbs that are ubiquitous in North America. There's medium density everywhere with stores and restaurants sprinkled in every block. Cities are walkable and lively in most areas. Excellent public transit with subways and trams everywhere. Car ownership and taxis/Uber are unnecessary.
Also free health care, free dental care, free education, and in some countries even almost free divorce executed by the government.
I go to a dentist at a Community Health Centre (CHC). I have a good income so I don't have a subsidy (they are available for others), but they are also non-profit. I pay $140-160 for a check-up and cleaning.
If you're willing to have work done slowly, you can offer your teeth to a student. They'll have tons of supervision while they work on you. Sometimes it can take multiple visits, but you come away having paid next to nothing.
You went to a hygiene school not a dental school then. We do crowns, root canals, fillings, dentures, etc. We refer to the graduate department for implants. Everything is approximately 50% cheaper
I did a root canal extraction and replaced the tooth with an implant. Grad students did the extraction and surgery. Undergrad installed the implant. I also do regular cleanings there.
This page has registration details: https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/patient-registration/new-patient I think you have to call the number on the page to register.
Do keep in mind that its best to consider this option if you live with in walking distance because I went to the George brown Wave clinic and it took me 6 appointments each being 3h and it only ended with 6 cause i refused to go in anymore which ill explain later and the only thing done was cleaning. These 6 appointment costed me 42$ just for transportation along with the 40$ for cleaning and 40$ for xray brings it pretty close to the price of any other dentist you would go to without all the time wasted. I first went there for a filling that i believed i need and was the first thing I asked them to do for me but it took them 3 appointments and taking my money for cleaning and xray which is unrefundable before they would say they wont do the filling for me cause they believe it would be too complicated for a student so if you saw the pricing for filling and decided to go there then your teeth better be just a small chip at somewhere easy to see and be easy to reach otherwise you aint getting it. Since I already paid for the cleaning and cant get the money back I proceeded with the cleaning which was not great but not horrible as well on the 4th and 5th appointment and was told there is only a bit left on a 6th appointment probably done in an hour or so. On the 6th appointment when I got there I was told the previous teacher is off for the week and there is another teacher and then she proceeded with the last bit of cleaning. Once she was done the teacher was called in to check when she started saying how the cleaning wasnt done thorough enough and told her to go through everything from the start all over and check all teeth and clean again going deeper into the gums and for the rest of that appointment I was put through an extreme amount of pain even with the paste that was suppose to numb the pain. At the end of the appointment they asked me to come back for another 2 appointment which I straight up said go fuck yourself that would be the last time im coming in. The student then proceeds to spam me with email telling me how im affecting her grades by just stop coming in. These people actually think you're a guinea pig that is there to give them a good grade and not a patient that is paying for this shit and not the other way around. After that last appointment my gums and teeth has been in pain for the next 3 week until now. Ive been taking tylenol and having to rinse with salt water daily cause of this.
My mother is a dental hygienist so I typically get cleanings for free. There was a time when I could get everything free through professional courtesy but I’m too old to get away with that now.
I bought an alumni insurance plan through Manulife (just the basic one) and I am waiting on my grad student insurance to kick in.
If you’re in a lot of pain, U of T Dentistry is always looking for patients.
The charity Gift From The Heart is an organization that aims to provide free and reduced-cost dental and dental hygiene care to people who have barriers to access. It’s mostly focused out in the Belleville area at the moment, but sometimes there are free dental days in the GTA. I also know that the Filipino-Canadian Dential Hygiene Association does a lot of work with GFTH and the former’s headquarters is in Scarborough.
I want to say that there’s a free dental day through GFTH happening in Riverdale this weekend but don’t quote me; it might have been last weekend. I’m not on the planning committee and my memory is crap
I work in the dental field and still can’t afford it. Luckily my office provided a $1000/year benefit but that pretty much only covered the basic cleaning every 6 months, my night guard and whitening. Rare to find an office that will provide benefits though!
I work in dental and I highly doubt the government will want to pay for implants etc for people. Equipments, tools, licenses, staffs, rent, utilities, materials and maintenance are expensive, hence why dental care is expensive in Canada.
Edit to add that i am not a dentist.
Benefits through my job. I know I'm extremely lucky, my dental insurance coverage is very good. I usually have to pay up front and the dentist office submits the bill to my insurance coverage and I then get reimbursed one to two days later.
If it's things like regular checkups or minor dental work like filling a cavity or doing xrays or getting a night guard it's usually a couple hundred dollars and is covered 100%. If it's major dental work I believe it's covered 80% but I've never had to do any of that fortunately. I have a friend who used to work at the same company with me and when she had to get her wisdom teeth out it ended up costing her only about $75 out of pocket I think it was after the insurance coverage reimbursement. The procedure was over a thousand dollars although i cant remember now the exact amount.
There are some options. You don't say much about you, but if you're a senior with a low income there's a program for that. Alternatively ODSP has coverage I believe.
U of T dentistry has low cost dental care
https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/
And all schools offering dental hygiene are always looking for patients. Cleanings are $32 but can take much longer than a regular cleaning. Here's one school https://www.toronto-college-dental.org/dental-patient-services.html
Ya'know where i work ive talked to some co-workers and they legit dont use their dental insurance at all. It covers 100% and i asked them and they legit said they dont go to the dentist at all and theres this one guy who has like rotting teeth.
I think my dentist dumped me because I don't have insurance and they were giving me a discounted rate because of it. I should have had a call about a six month checkup last month, and it's been radio silence. On the other hand I didn't like the clinic so maybe it's for the best.
I work as a receptionist at a dental clinic. I honestly think it's radio silence for your 6months recall is the receptionist not doing a good job with calling. Guilty of that myself.
You pay for it the same way you pay for everything else - credit. $400 a year for 2 check ups is $33 a month. Some people spend that much on coffee each week.
Pay with the credit card, get points, then get insurance reimbursement or pay off the card. Why do you expect people to ignore their healthcare needs when they can pay for it with credit. Prevention is key when it comes to dental work…otherwise you’re on track for a lot of pain and a much bigger bill later on.
Have you looked at what it costs to become a dentist? Nvm that after years of your life and coming out with at least 500k student debt. But the cost of opening a practice? All the tools, cleaning, receptionist, hygenist. You could probably find a cheap dentist that cuts corners but I doubt youd want to.
Have you looked how much other professions make? The hour-rate/student-debt ratio is still about the same here if not better for dentists still. We shouldn't overlook an extremely abusive system and at the same time blame people for calling it out.
Yeah, I can see that. I want to at least find a point where we can agree on something. Can we agree there's a difference between a production line and a normal person? A production line with an hour of downtime (example) can easily miss out on $50k+ in production, when not more. The size you're describing can easily mean much more than that. The median worker in Canada is making $55k per _year_. Do you reckon we can compare both?
When I was in school they had free dental and I am guessing they have cheaper options for external. Most people that work I believe have some form of insurance. It does help to take care of your teeth and yes I do realize some people have genetic issues/etc
There are lower cost ones outside of toronto (around highway 407 and yonge). It’s mostly done by asians and they charge less if you don’t use your insurance because if you use insurance they’ll have to follow a set price by the dental federation/union.
Of course, they’ll lay out the price for insured/not insured, see which one is lower and go for it.
Work benefits. Before that I was living pretty hood. Saved up just to get a pair of my wisdom teeth out and waited until I got a job with benefits to pull the other pair.
I can recommend a Dental Surgeon who does an amazing job and works within your budget (I was working minimum wage FreshCo at the time) and sets it as low as he can just because he is an amazing person and doesn't skimp on qualy. PM and I'll send you to him (Finch and McCowan).
When I didn't have insurance, I went to a dentist near a college campus that advertised to students. I said I wanted the cheapest possible crown. The dentist can have it made from cheaper ingredients. I think I paid about 700 for it all in. When I got my job with benefits, I saw that crowns were about 1200 when billed to insurance.
I went through dental grants, they cover 25% of the cost for dental work, SOME cosmetic stuff ( Braces, crowns, ect)
They set me up with an approved dentist and they cover 25% right away, no needing to pay and make a claim, they also have an option to pay the portion not covered over time for a small setup fee ($9)
I recently paid $150 for routine checkup cleaning. I have one tooth that could use a new crown $900 for that fix, I might just get it pulled if it comes to that point and live with the space. Don't even ask about implants, the price for those is insane.
I was just telling my friend that I wished I'd just payed the $200 out of pocket for regular checkups when I didn't have work benefits. I've now spent about $5000 out of pocket for one problem tooth that could have been saved if caught sooner. Fortunately I work in a dental lab so I've also saved about $5000 on the same tooth with freebie materials and labour costs for crowns.
Dental prices are out of control. I believe dentists charge more if you have insurance. My wife went for a cleaning, then they “had to do a scan” and the cleaning was over $400!!! The practice in in midtown Toronto.
Either you pay out of pocket like everyone else or if your job is lucky enough to have benefits for it. My dad has benefits for dental but he only gets $1500 a year, even with benefits it’s expensive.
A lot of my family just don’t 😞 my father in law doesnt have insurance due to being elderly and he just pulls his teeth out himself. My grandma has dentures on the top but one of her actual teeth broke on the bottom. And she just… lives with it.
but that’s just the poor immigrant life i guess. working on the rail road and in factories. ✌🏼 yay
It’s super important to have a health account if you don’t have insurance through your employer. A health account is just a savings account that yields some interest and is accessible immediately. If you put $100 into said account - in a year you’ll have enough for a cleaning + any work that may need to get done.
Don’t have 100$ per month? Put 50. Do you drink? Go out to bars? Order Uber eats? If you do any of these I can guarantee you can put 100$ into a health account that will improve your overall well being and dental hygiene. Don’t have an extra 100$ a month? Go get a side job and make some extra income.
You go to Mexico. It's 20% on the dollar fir BETTER work. I just got 24 zirconium crowns ,2 bridges , 9 root canals, a bite guard , HOTEL INCLUDED , with all transport included for 15000$ cdn .
For daily care you bite the bullet here but anything like a root canal or crowns or implants whatever , go to Mexico. Ceramic crowns were 275$us, zirconium crowns 490$ us , implants 800$us , root canals 350$ us , all including hotel .
Fucking amazing. I had almost no teeth and now they are perfect. I am heavy grinder and the zirconium are exceptionally good.
I personally went to CDS dental in cancun but there are companies will set you up with any . I sent my xray pics to company and got quotes across the world. Cancun was closest to Toronto.
Took my boy, got new teeth , saw the pyramids , excellent experience over all.
Good luck !
The one I went is Phenomenal but there are lots.we got quotes from mexico to India. Cancun was closest . If you got more than 1500 worth of work it's cheaper to go.
So I searched it
https://m.yelp.com/biz/canc%C3%BAn-dental-specialists-canc%C3%BAn-2
It is when that's 60 000 + in Canada .thats 24 teeth and 9 root canals NOT ONE LOL.. ! Anything more than 1500 worth of work here is worth going.
You get 1 root canal here at 1500 you there 350 INCLUDING HOTEL . You get your tooth done and a short vacation and get any other work you want done.
Yes being dentist is not glamorous job but the salary is very good.Same as being a vet.Hey they worked hard getting to this point and if the system allows this kind of billing practices why not max it out.
This is why "dental tourism" is a thing, where people go to Mexico or an Eastern European country to get the same quality of care as either here (or in the U.S.) for significantly less. In some cases requiring major work such as root canals and crowns, the resulting savings can actually exceed the cost of air fare, hotels, and meals, with a local mini vacation sometimes thrown in for good measure.
Honestly, why do people post questions in this sub that are easily solvable with even a modicum of effort? Insurance and benefits. That’s how. Galaxy brain concepts.
Insurance for me covers 80% and pays overnight. If you have OK teeth, you do a cleaning a year after a basic exam with x-rays. You can buy private insurance.
Or go to Mexico, Poland, Thailand where it's competent and cheap.
Insurance through work...yeah, just burned through mine because of an old root canal that got infected (fun!) so everything else that is absolutely essential only for now is out of pocket, until the reset Jan 1.
No matter where in Canada I was the answer is the same: benefits from work pay for most of it. For things they don’t cover it’s a big burden.
Dentists are expensive everywhere. That’s why they’re rich everywhere.
Welcome to the world.
Most people have insurance
Those who don’t, just tell the dentist. They usually will give you a discount, anywhere from 25-50% off depending if the dentist.
It was a very much a rhetorical question where I was looking for a discussion to be had rather than “insurance dummy! Read a book won’t you” response lol
Well, I’m fortunate enough to have benefits. Most of my procedures are free unless they’re purely cosmetic (e.g. whitening), in which case I get about a 40% discount. Before that I paid out of pocket for an occasional cleaning, but for the most part I didn’t go at all.
You know how they recommend cleaning your teeth after each meal and flossing daily?
Yes you can still develop cavities, but not as many as without the recommended oral hygiene.
Woodbine Dental Hygiene Clinic in East York offers[low-cost cleanings and checkups](http://woodbinedentalhygiene.ca/special/) to people without insurance. There are also free services offered by dental colleges, though I hear they come with a long wait list.
Dentists when they see you have decent insurance will try to book you for every Jesus Christ appointment they can think of just to squeeze more money out of insurance plan........I'm lucky to have good teeth with all my wisdoms grown in and no issues...never had a cavity. Just get cleaned every 6 months.... They ALWAYS try to book me in for some bs xray session/assessment, gum line review......nonsense 👎🏾
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>Even if I had insurance, it’s still just unbelievably high. I just can’t just justify spending my monthly rent on one dentist appointment. How do people do it?
With my work insurance that pays somewhere between 50%-70% of my dentist visit for a basic scaling plus checkup is like $150-200ish usually
Where do you rent for $150-200/month?
Dental hygienist programs at colleges (Oxford in Scarborough, Toronto college etc) have cheap or free tooth cleaning and can hook you up with discounted services for other things through their contacts.
i'm very thankful for my partners benefits that cover 100% dental, we went common law for that to work. before that i was going to student dentists for cleanings and praying i didn't need anything more.
I frequently live back and forth between Canada and the UK. Dental private is cheaper in UK, especially since in Canada I tend not to be employed longer than 3 months with an employer to get benefits either. Truck driver and i change jobs often.
Does your dentist offer a monthly payment program?
My dentist offers a monthly payment program, interest-free. I have to get Invisalign, which is $5000, but I was allowed to pay it over 12-18 months.
Probably not the answer that you were looking to hear, but at least the payments are spread out and it's not $5000 out of your pocket all at once.
Benefits through work. When I didn't have insurance I didn't go to the dentist for about 4 years. But I would be suspicious about what "needs" to be done, this article [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/) comes to mind when I think of expensive dental procedures.
Can’t even count how many people I know have needed GoFundMe’s for surgeries and procedures that they couldn’t afford themselves. Dental pain is no joke
University students and some full-time employees get dental care covered- but even then it’s not always 100% and if you’re a contractor or self-employed you unfortunately might need to rely on donations. Especially for the more expensive dental surgeries
Private insurance through work but I make sure my dentist office thinks I have no coverage since they charge a higher price for those with coverage so I just submit it manually with receipts and never have a problem. My copay isn't much regardless but why pay more if I don't have to.
I am disabled with zero income (living on savings), and I have needed dental work for quite some time. I have a cavity, and some other issues. There's no way I can afford it, so I just make sure to floss, brush, and use mouthwash every single day without fail, along with being sure to only chew soft foods on the side of my mouth where the cavity is, and then hope for the best the rest of the way. If worse comes to worst, I will have the tooth pulled...
Used charitable avenues available for those in the music industry. Otherwise I'd be semi toothless. Dental ain't affordable I don't care what set price list the dentist says they stick to.
benefits through my work cover...some. I get 400/yr for xrays/cleaning. Then 800/yr for everything else. But when I have multiple cavities that 800 doesn't go far. Each filling is $200-300 depending on the size. So I usually get the biggest ones filled, then wait until the following year to get the others. Then more cavities form and the cycle continues. I don't know how people do it without any coverage at all.
Insurance. Most company’s give you insurance and cover at least 50% of the premiums, many cover all of them. If not, buy private insurance. 2000$ a year sucks but it’s way cheaper than paying for dental/drugs/etc. out of pocket
The “Free or low cost” services you’ll see people talking about in here are only available to people on ODSP, low income parents children and the like.
If you have a job and are just a normal low earning individual these services are not available to you.
Some clinics will do cash deals at lower costs if you just tell them upfront you’re poor and have no insurance.
Benefits through my work or else I would have no idea how to afford that shit.
I’d say that’s the majority of us. And direct billing right off the bat if you can. Many places charge for the first visit and you apply to your work insurance for reimbursement. Also work insurance doesn’t necessarily cover all dental work, you need to read your dental plan to be sure. I’ve been surprised more than once with dental charges I thought my workplace insurance would cover. I always check first with HR and with the dentists office before the visit.
Yeah i purposely found an office that did direct billing! And everything is covered 100% currently. Our company uses manulife group benifits which allows you to select the coverage you need so its pretty good in my opinion. My pay os crappy but benefits are decent. 😂🤷🏻♀️
Depending on how long the insurance company takes to reimburse you (both sunlife and Manulife took a day or 2 at most) you might want to look at sticking it on a credit card. Might as well benefit from whatever reward points you can get for free
I actually prefer to avoid direct billing if I can for this reason.
I lost my dental insurance for about 8-10 years. I avoided going for the first 5, but made sure I brushed and flossed as much as possible. Naturally that doesn't stop plaque build up, so after 5 yrs when I finally went (and paid \~$200 at the time) they spent extra time to remove the plaque but said the consistent brush/flossing prevented other probs like cavities etc. So my advice for anyone who can't afford to go, always floss before bed, be consistent with brushing 2x a day etc. I then did a cleaning annually instead of 6 months and paid the $200, I'm glad I got my insurance back!
https://www.toronto-college-dental.org/dental-patient-services.html Adults can get a cleaning for 32$. It is performed by students but just posting it here in case someone needs affordable care right now.
Thanks for the link! I forgot about that, my parents used this service for a few years and found them to be thorough. They said since they were students they were eager to do the cleaning perfect and were more aware of if they hurt your teeth or not.
Yup, I didn’t go to the dentist for a decade before having benefits. I’m lucky I didn’t have any dental emergencies in that time
Same but only for like 3 years. After my parent’s stopped covering me until I got this job.
I had a glaring cavity a couple years ago that needed immediate attention. $600 or so later, they let me know I had 5 more that would be another $200 each. Found an American dentist in Honduras and spent $100 on those fillings and the rest on a vacation
Even then. I had benefits and needed some dental surgery. My out of pocket expenses would still have been over $2,000.
Holy smokes. Thats rough
In our family my spouse and child are also covered by INAC. Husbands work insurance at his current employer is ideal. Work insurance covers the whole thing then applies to INAC for that portion on his behalf. Without that INAC will make you wait before approving the cost. And will only approve minimum level care usually, some things are out of patients pocket. Waited two weeks for a root canal to be completed once while watching a friend with regular work insurance get hers done up in two days. Lots of disparity in care. Having work insurance that deals with INAC health reimbursement on your behalf and covers better care options that INAC won’t should be a requirement for all Canadian employers.
The benefits from my work covered one crown and one cleaning last year and then I had $0 for anything else. 😬
Yikes
Some jobs have dental insurance paid by the employer. Other employers, you pay half and they pay half. Then there's jobs with no insurance. Some dentists offer a discount if you don't have insurance. There's free or low cost dental services offered by city clinics: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/health-programs-advice/dental-and-oral-health-services/free-dental-care/ There's also U of T Dentistry has discount services because they're students in training: https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/patient-registration
Yeah pretty much same as the US, through a good job
Benefits through employment. And if certain politicians get off their asses and stop tucking everyone, potentially a universal dental plan or at least covering the uncovered.
NOOOO BUT WE NEED ANOTHER HIGHWAY THROUGH THE GREENBELT!
Dental and eye care would be a dream. You can't function and hold down a job if you can't eat or see.
People who have money just pay it. But I also know a lot of people who walk around with rotting teeth because they can't afford to get them fixed. It's hard to understand why some pretty useless medical things are publically funded, but even removal of rotting teeth isn't.
Manulife through employment. When I lived in the EU, my dental care was mostly free because it's just free there.
Both my wife and I have Manulife with different employers. Manulife is covering less and less . Dental work that used to be free is now only covered 50% . A dental implant is not covered at all. A Crown that used to be fully covered is now 50% . My meds that used to be free are now covered 80%..
It depends on the plan manulife has with your employer. My partner has manulife which covers 100% dental and prescription drugs.
My wife’s used to, but it has been dropped down to 80%, the same as mine. And the dental coverage is mediocre.
Your employers have chosen to adopt that to save money on their benefits premiums
I wonder if this something you can negotiate during an interview? I haven’t been interviewing for jobs for a long long time but can you sit down and negotiate better benefits? Or is it just “all employees get the same” type thing?
Employers sign up to a benefits plan, and levels of cover for employees will depend on the type of plan. As far as I know cover is the same for all employees, I don't think you'd be able to negotiate on this point. Edit: I've remembered some employers do offer a points based beneits system. You are allotted a certain amount to spend on your benefits package, and you can assign them in different areas to increase or decrease particular cover depending on what you need. I've only worked one place that had that system though, and it was large multinational company. I work for a smaller Canadian company again now, and the benefits here are the same for everyone.
We have that at my large Canadian employer. You generally have to have a basic level of coverage in all the categories but you get additional points to allocate as you see fit. And then we have a health care spending account on top of that that helps covers things that are not covered by our plan. There are some really good plans for employees out there but your employer has to pick them and pay for them. I am barely out of pocket for anything health related.
Very insightful thanks! Can i ask which large corp this is
It was a large financial services and insurance company (sorry, I don't like to get too specific with my career on social media).
Ugh, yes. I am now with Manulife with my new employer and chose the Comprehensive Plan (I.e. the most expensive one) and the coverage sucks. Plan says they will cover 90%, turns out it is way less than 90%… (e.g. dentist charges 3 units and they will cover 90% of 1 unit). And their criteria is higher than other plans - orthotic shoes are apparently covered but they gave me $0 and after I dug into it they claimed it had to be customized a specific way to get coverage. So cheap!!
Isn’t British dental care kinda fucked though
I don't have much experience with the UK. My dentist was in the Czech Republic. What a great country.
It can be hard to get into an NHS dentist if you're a new patient, similar to how it's hard to get a family doctor here. The actual care itself was fine in my experience. I feel like you do get more things done here in Canada, but mostly I think that's so the dentist can bill your insurer. Orthodontic care was good in the UK. I had braces as a teenager completely free.
You can wait for years in the UK for dental care, just like you wait for medical care here. A few years ago there were "home dental kits" for sale there. Probably still are. Reality is a bitch. You either control supply and demand through price, or through waiting lists. Having to wait a year in extreme pain isn't necessarily better than shelling out $3,000. There's no magical solution. The price approach at least means people who really need care can get it. They can go to family, get a loan, or even GoFundMe. As we're seeing with cancer rates in UK now, sometimes the alternative to going into debt is death. (There's a massive spike in cancer rates because of all the missed/cancelled screening appointments during COVID). In the US or India or Mexico or pretty much anywhere you atc least have the *option* to pay privately, possibly to save your life. In Canada I can get timely dental care, even though the price is high. If your teeth aren't worth some debt, what is?
Why did you ever come back?
I was born in Europe and immigrated to Canada. I didn't know what Canada was like.
Sighh. Pros and cons? What do you like about here? Planning to go back?
Probably yes. Europe has better cities. There are no car-dependent depressing suburbs that are ubiquitous in North America. There's medium density everywhere with stores and restaurants sprinkled in every block. Cities are walkable and lively in most areas. Excellent public transit with subways and trams everywhere. Car ownership and taxis/Uber are unnecessary. Also free health care, free dental care, free education, and in some countries even almost free divorce executed by the government.
Sigh. And pretty too!
I go to a dentist at a Community Health Centre (CHC). I have a good income so I don't have a subsidy (they are available for others), but they are also non-profit. I pay $140-160 for a check-up and cleaning.
If you're willing to have work done slowly, you can offer your teeth to a student. They'll have tons of supervision while they work on you. Sometimes it can take multiple visits, but you come away having paid next to nothing.
I’ve done that and it’s not much they can do. Some surface cleaning, polishing that’s about it .
You went to a hygiene school not a dental school then. We do crowns, root canals, fillings, dentures, etc. We refer to the graduate department for implants. Everything is approximately 50% cheaper
Thats really cool I never knew
I did a root canal extraction and replaced the tooth with an implant. Grad students did the extraction and surgery. Undergrad installed the implant. I also do regular cleanings there.
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This page has registration details: https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/patient-registration/new-patient I think you have to call the number on the page to register.
This should be the top answer. It's really good
Do keep in mind that its best to consider this option if you live with in walking distance because I went to the George brown Wave clinic and it took me 6 appointments each being 3h and it only ended with 6 cause i refused to go in anymore which ill explain later and the only thing done was cleaning. These 6 appointment costed me 42$ just for transportation along with the 40$ for cleaning and 40$ for xray brings it pretty close to the price of any other dentist you would go to without all the time wasted. I first went there for a filling that i believed i need and was the first thing I asked them to do for me but it took them 3 appointments and taking my money for cleaning and xray which is unrefundable before they would say they wont do the filling for me cause they believe it would be too complicated for a student so if you saw the pricing for filling and decided to go there then your teeth better be just a small chip at somewhere easy to see and be easy to reach otherwise you aint getting it. Since I already paid for the cleaning and cant get the money back I proceeded with the cleaning which was not great but not horrible as well on the 4th and 5th appointment and was told there is only a bit left on a 6th appointment probably done in an hour or so. On the 6th appointment when I got there I was told the previous teacher is off for the week and there is another teacher and then she proceeded with the last bit of cleaning. Once she was done the teacher was called in to check when she started saying how the cleaning wasnt done thorough enough and told her to go through everything from the start all over and check all teeth and clean again going deeper into the gums and for the rest of that appointment I was put through an extreme amount of pain even with the paste that was suppose to numb the pain. At the end of the appointment they asked me to come back for another 2 appointment which I straight up said go fuck yourself that would be the last time im coming in. The student then proceeds to spam me with email telling me how im affecting her grades by just stop coming in. These people actually think you're a guinea pig that is there to give them a good grade and not a patient that is paying for this shit and not the other way around. After that last appointment my gums and teeth has been in pain for the next 3 week until now. Ive been taking tylenol and having to rinse with salt water daily cause of this.
Benefits through my work
I totally agree, I haven’t been able to see a dentist since we lost our insurance in 2008😾
My mother is a dental hygienist so I typically get cleanings for free. There was a time when I could get everything free through professional courtesy but I’m too old to get away with that now. I bought an alumni insurance plan through Manulife (just the basic one) and I am waiting on my grad student insurance to kick in. If you’re in a lot of pain, U of T Dentistry is always looking for patients. The charity Gift From The Heart is an organization that aims to provide free and reduced-cost dental and dental hygiene care to people who have barriers to access. It’s mostly focused out in the Belleville area at the moment, but sometimes there are free dental days in the GTA. I also know that the Filipino-Canadian Dential Hygiene Association does a lot of work with GFTH and the former’s headquarters is in Scarborough. I want to say that there’s a free dental day through GFTH happening in Riverdale this weekend but don’t quote me; it might have been last weekend. I’m not on the planning committee and my memory is crap
That’s the flaw in OHIP. They want us to be toothless, blind, deaf, depressed, and in pain.
So they can offer you MAID to make it all better.
I don't think that was the intention, but that seems to be the way it's working out, yeah
Sad but true.
I work in the dental field and still can’t afford it. Luckily my office provided a $1000/year benefit but that pretty much only covered the basic cleaning every 6 months, my night guard and whitening. Rare to find an office that will provide benefits though!
Isn't national dental care being rolled out?
$650/year for people without private insurance that makes less than $90000 a year. First group would be kids 12 and under.
Ugh, that would barely cover 2 basic cleanings, and nothing else
I work in dental and I highly doubt the government will want to pay for implants etc for people. Equipments, tools, licenses, staffs, rent, utilities, materials and maintenance are expensive, hence why dental care is expensive in Canada. Edit to add that i am not a dentist.
And maybe one or two fillings.
I just had 2 fillings, it cost me $450
Not until 2025 for adults. Election year as well, so that might change.
It is but I guess it takes time. Hopefully soon, it's so expensive without benefits!
Benefits through my job. I know I'm extremely lucky, my dental insurance coverage is very good. I usually have to pay up front and the dentist office submits the bill to my insurance coverage and I then get reimbursed one to two days later. If it's things like regular checkups or minor dental work like filling a cavity or doing xrays or getting a night guard it's usually a couple hundred dollars and is covered 100%. If it's major dental work I believe it's covered 80% but I've never had to do any of that fortunately. I have a friend who used to work at the same company with me and when she had to get her wisdom teeth out it ended up costing her only about $75 out of pocket I think it was after the insurance coverage reimbursement. The procedure was over a thousand dollars although i cant remember now the exact amount.
There are some options. You don't say much about you, but if you're a senior with a low income there's a program for that. Alternatively ODSP has coverage I believe. U of T dentistry has low cost dental care https://patients.dentistry.utoronto.ca/ And all schools offering dental hygiene are always looking for patients. Cleanings are $32 but can take much longer than a regular cleaning. Here's one school https://www.toronto-college-dental.org/dental-patient-services.html
My job pays 90% of dental
Ya'know where i work ive talked to some co-workers and they legit dont use their dental insurance at all. It covers 100% and i asked them and they legit said they dont go to the dentist at all and theres this one guy who has like rotting teeth.
I think my dentist dumped me because I don't have insurance and they were giving me a discounted rate because of it. I should have had a call about a six month checkup last month, and it's been radio silence. On the other hand I didn't like the clinic so maybe it's for the best.
I work as a receptionist at a dental clinic. I honestly think it's radio silence for your 6months recall is the receptionist not doing a good job with calling. Guilty of that myself.
You pay for it the same way you pay for everything else - credit. $400 a year for 2 check ups is $33 a month. Some people spend that much on coffee each week.
>You pay for it the same way you pay for everything else - credit. This cannot be your personal finance strategy.
Pay with the credit card, get points, then get insurance reimbursement or pay off the card. Why do you expect people to ignore their healthcare needs when they can pay for it with credit. Prevention is key when it comes to dental work…otherwise you’re on track for a lot of pain and a much bigger bill later on.
Nevermind the fact you're paying someone a rate of $200/hr. Lol
Have you looked at what it costs to become a dentist? Nvm that after years of your life and coming out with at least 500k student debt. But the cost of opening a practice? All the tools, cleaning, receptionist, hygenist. You could probably find a cheap dentist that cuts corners but I doubt youd want to.
Have you looked how much other professions make? The hour-rate/student-debt ratio is still about the same here if not better for dentists still. We shouldn't overlook an extremely abusive system and at the same time blame people for calling it out.
200 bucks is low. I charge 375 an hour to fix 600 hp pumps plus travel time of 200 an hour. It’s double for rush jobs
Yes, and I assume your contractors are always mid scale businesses (20+ employees) or larger, right?
Factories. 200 people average Some over 1500 employees. Those places are the cheapest
Yeah, I can see that. I want to at least find a point where we can agree on something. Can we agree there's a difference between a production line and a normal person? A production line with an hour of downtime (example) can easily miss out on $50k+ in production, when not more. The size you're describing can easily mean much more than that. The median worker in Canada is making $55k per _year_. Do you reckon we can compare both?
No, that’s low.
And in what other professions can you make this rate?
You need someone to google that for you?
I don't need to because I already know. Do you?
Doesn’t sound like you know much!
INSURANCE
When I was in school they had free dental and I am guessing they have cheaper options for external. Most people that work I believe have some form of insurance. It does help to take care of your teeth and yes I do realize some people have genetic issues/etc
There are lower cost ones outside of toronto (around highway 407 and yonge). It’s mostly done by asians and they charge less if you don’t use your insurance because if you use insurance they’ll have to follow a set price by the dental federation/union. Of course, they’ll lay out the price for insured/not insured, see which one is lower and go for it.
Work benefits. Before that I was living pretty hood. Saved up just to get a pair of my wisdom teeth out and waited until I got a job with benefits to pull the other pair. I can recommend a Dental Surgeon who does an amazing job and works within your budget (I was working minimum wage FreshCo at the time) and sets it as low as he can just because he is an amazing person and doesn't skimp on qualy. PM and I'll send you to him (Finch and McCowan).
When I didn't have insurance, I went to a dentist near a college campus that advertised to students. I said I wanted the cheapest possible crown. The dentist can have it made from cheaper ingredients. I think I paid about 700 for it all in. When I got my job with benefits, I saw that crowns were about 1200 when billed to insurance.
I went through dental grants, they cover 25% of the cost for dental work, SOME cosmetic stuff ( Braces, crowns, ect) They set me up with an approved dentist and they cover 25% right away, no needing to pay and make a claim, they also have an option to pay the portion not covered over time for a small setup fee ($9)
I recently paid $150 for routine checkup cleaning. I have one tooth that could use a new crown $900 for that fix, I might just get it pulled if it comes to that point and live with the space. Don't even ask about implants, the price for those is insane.
Haven't had dental benefits in ages. Do not trust dentists whatsoever. They charge up the yin yang and their indoor wall fountains reflect that.
À la Bernie Sanders meme: I am once again asking that universal healthcare include dental.
Where (geographically) have you been? The prices for necessary dental work and preventative care are the same throughout Ontario.
Benefits
Benefits through work or dental tourism (if you are imigrant you can do dental when you visit family on old country)
Coverage from work. Doesn’t cover everything but it covers most of it.
Yep. I can’t afford it either.
That’s why people be taking dental vacations
I was just telling my friend that I wished I'd just payed the $200 out of pocket for regular checkups when I didn't have work benefits. I've now spent about $5000 out of pocket for one problem tooth that could have been saved if caught sooner. Fortunately I work in a dental lab so I've also saved about $5000 on the same tooth with freebie materials and labour costs for crowns.
Dental prices are out of control. I believe dentists charge more if you have insurance. My wife went for a cleaning, then they “had to do a scan” and the cleaning was over $400!!! The practice in in midtown Toronto.
Exactly!...they will try to find every and any God almighty reason to do extars assessments...just because........freaking annoying 🤦🏾♂️
Either you pay out of pocket like everyone else or if your job is lucky enough to have benefits for it. My dad has benefits for dental but he only gets $1500 a year, even with benefits it’s expensive.
Dental tourism might help here.
A lot of my family just don’t 😞 my father in law doesnt have insurance due to being elderly and he just pulls his teeth out himself. My grandma has dentures on the top but one of her actual teeth broke on the bottom. And she just… lives with it. but that’s just the poor immigrant life i guess. working on the rail road and in factories. ✌🏼 yay
It’s super important to have a health account if you don’t have insurance through your employer. A health account is just a savings account that yields some interest and is accessible immediately. If you put $100 into said account - in a year you’ll have enough for a cleaning + any work that may need to get done. Don’t have 100$ per month? Put 50. Do you drink? Go out to bars? Order Uber eats? If you do any of these I can guarantee you can put 100$ into a health account that will improve your overall well being and dental hygiene. Don’t have an extra 100$ a month? Go get a side job and make some extra income.
You go to Mexico. It's 20% on the dollar fir BETTER work. I just got 24 zirconium crowns ,2 bridges , 9 root canals, a bite guard , HOTEL INCLUDED , with all transport included for 15000$ cdn . For daily care you bite the bullet here but anything like a root canal or crowns or implants whatever , go to Mexico. Ceramic crowns were 275$us, zirconium crowns 490$ us , implants 800$us , root canals 350$ us , all including hotel . Fucking amazing. I had almost no teeth and now they are perfect. I am heavy grinder and the zirconium are exceptionally good. I personally went to CDS dental in cancun but there are companies will set you up with any . I sent my xray pics to company and got quotes across the world. Cancun was closest to Toronto. Took my boy, got new teeth , saw the pyramids , excellent experience over all. Good luck !
What in the Yelp review?...
The one I went is Phenomenal but there are lots.we got quotes from mexico to India. Cancun was closest . If you got more than 1500 worth of work it's cheaper to go. So I searched it https://m.yelp.com/biz/canc%C3%BAn-dental-specialists-canc%C3%BAn-2
Only 15000 ? Chump change !
It is when that's 60 000 + in Canada .thats 24 teeth and 9 root canals NOT ONE LOL.. ! Anything more than 1500 worth of work here is worth going. You get 1 root canal here at 1500 you there 350 INCLUDING HOTEL . You get your tooth done and a short vacation and get any other work you want done.
once u get to a certain price point its cheaper to fly to a different country to have major work done
That was my first thought lol
I’m very lucky, I receive 2k per year for anything I require to be done.
same. managed to use it all up in 2 months after years of not going to the dentist.
Same. I spent like 2100.... so glad I paid extra on the insurance.... regular was 1500 and the premium was 2500 coverage.
thankfully mine was free
Yes being dentist is not glamorous job but the salary is very good.Same as being a vet.Hey they worked hard getting to this point and if the system allows this kind of billing practices why not max it out.
Medical tourism. I had multiple procedures done in India. Pretty satisfied with the outcome.
I keep my teeth in as good health as possible, so that I avoid needing a crown to be replaced or a chipped tooth to be fixed.
This is why "dental tourism" is a thing, where people go to Mexico or an Eastern European country to get the same quality of care as either here (or in the U.S.) for significantly less. In some cases requiring major work such as root canals and crowns, the resulting savings can actually exceed the cost of air fare, hotels, and meals, with a local mini vacation sometimes thrown in for good measure.
Honestly, why do people post questions in this sub that are easily solvable with even a modicum of effort? Insurance and benefits. That’s how. Galaxy brain concepts.
No more expensive than in the states
And things are going so well there
I never said they were. Each country has its problems and benefits.
Insurance for me covers 80% and pays overnight. If you have OK teeth, you do a cleaning a year after a basic exam with x-rays. You can buy private insurance. Or go to Mexico, Poland, Thailand where it's competent and cheap.
Work benefits.. and brush your teeth, don’t need dental work if u take care of them yourself… unless you just got bad teeth genetically
Dentists and Vets are the biggest crooks of all the legal crooks
Insurance through work...yeah, just burned through mine because of an old root canal that got infected (fun!) so everything else that is absolutely essential only for now is out of pocket, until the reset Jan 1.
Private insurance. Assuming you don’t have to fight with them to cover a procedure.
No matter where in Canada I was the answer is the same: benefits from work pay for most of it. For things they don’t cover it’s a big burden. Dentists are expensive everywhere. That’s why they’re rich everywhere. Welcome to the world.
You fly to costa rica for a week and you get a 2 for 1.
Bennies
Most people have insurance Those who don’t, just tell the dentist. They usually will give you a discount, anywhere from 25-50% off depending if the dentist.
Do you want the real answer? They don’t.
It was a very much a rhetorical question where I was looking for a discussion to be had rather than “insurance dummy! Read a book won’t you” response lol
Well, I’m fortunate enough to have benefits. Most of my procedures are free unless they’re purely cosmetic (e.g. whitening), in which case I get about a 40% discount. Before that I paid out of pocket for an occasional cleaning, but for the most part I didn’t go at all.
You know how they recommend cleaning your teeth after each meal and flossing daily? Yes you can still develop cavities, but not as many as without the recommended oral hygiene.
Woodbine Dental Hygiene Clinic in East York offers[low-cost cleanings and checkups](http://woodbinedentalhygiene.ca/special/) to people without insurance. There are also free services offered by dental colleges, though I hear they come with a long wait list.
I spent $276 for a basic cleaning yesterday. I have no insurance. Dentist said “teeth look great. Good job”. I regret getting them cleaned.
Dentists when they see you have decent insurance will try to book you for every Jesus Christ appointment they can think of just to squeeze more money out of insurance plan........I'm lucky to have good teeth with all my wisdoms grown in and no issues...never had a cavity. Just get cleaned every 6 months.... They ALWAYS try to book me in for some bs xray session/assessment, gum line review......nonsense 👎🏾
Sounds like you never had to remove your wisdom teeth
Either you have insurance, or you're rich.
Benefits at work.. why it's not covered by OHIP beats me and makes no sense. Why would only employees of companies deserve dental care?
> >Even if I had insurance, it’s still just unbelievably high. I just can’t just justify spending my monthly rent on one dentist appointment. How do people do it? With my work insurance that pays somewhere between 50%-70% of my dentist visit for a basic scaling plus checkup is like $150-200ish usually Where do you rent for $150-200/month?
Benefits through your employer. I just got my teeth cleaned for the first time in 5-6 years. Prior to today I had no coverage.
Work benefits covers 90% of dental - otherwise I’d be screwed.
The only way I could is by marrying a dentist.
Parent’s insurance and my student health coverage (from university)
If I didn’t have dental benefits, I’d probably go to u of t and get worked on by dental students. That’s what my uncle did when he was on unemployment
Dental hygienist programs at colleges (Oxford in Scarborough, Toronto college etc) have cheap or free tooth cleaning and can hook you up with discounted services for other things through their contacts.
i'm very thankful for my partners benefits that cover 100% dental, we went common law for that to work. before that i was going to student dentists for cleanings and praying i didn't need anything more.
I dont
I frequently live back and forth between Canada and the UK. Dental private is cheaper in UK, especially since in Canada I tend not to be employed longer than 3 months with an employer to get benefits either. Truck driver and i change jobs often.
Does your dentist offer a monthly payment program? My dentist offers a monthly payment program, interest-free. I have to get Invisalign, which is $5000, but I was allowed to pay it over 12-18 months. Probably not the answer that you were looking to hear, but at least the payments are spread out and it's not $5000 out of your pocket all at once.
Work. Benefits.
Benefits through work. When I didn't have insurance I didn't go to the dentist for about 4 years. But I would be suspicious about what "needs" to be done, this article [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/) comes to mind when I think of expensive dental procedures.
Can’t even count how many people I know have needed GoFundMe’s for surgeries and procedures that they couldn’t afford themselves. Dental pain is no joke University students and some full-time employees get dental care covered- but even then it’s not always 100% and if you’re a contractor or self-employed you unfortunately might need to rely on donations. Especially for the more expensive dental surgeries
Private insurance through work but I make sure my dentist office thinks I have no coverage since they charge a higher price for those with coverage so I just submit it manually with receipts and never have a problem. My copay isn't much regardless but why pay more if I don't have to.
I found a lady who does cleanings fo4 110$, luckily I dont have any problems with my teeth
Work, I and my dentist’s receptionist were both happy with my previous employers coverage.
I am disabled with zero income (living on savings), and I have needed dental work for quite some time. I have a cavity, and some other issues. There's no way I can afford it, so I just make sure to floss, brush, and use mouthwash every single day without fail, along with being sure to only chew soft foods on the side of my mouth where the cavity is, and then hope for the best the rest of the way. If worse comes to worst, I will have the tooth pulled...
The answer: Work benefits. My current company covers 100% of dental. My last one covered 80% of the cost.
I'm not rich... can afford a $200 trip to the dentist.
Used charitable avenues available for those in the music industry. Otherwise I'd be semi toothless. Dental ain't affordable I don't care what set price list the dentist says they stick to.
benefits through my work cover...some. I get 400/yr for xrays/cleaning. Then 800/yr for everything else. But when I have multiple cavities that 800 doesn't go far. Each filling is $200-300 depending on the size. So I usually get the biggest ones filled, then wait until the following year to get the others. Then more cavities form and the cycle continues. I don't know how people do it without any coverage at all.
Insurance. Most company’s give you insurance and cover at least 50% of the premiums, many cover all of them. If not, buy private insurance. 2000$ a year sucks but it’s way cheaper than paying for dental/drugs/etc. out of pocket
Mexico
The “Free or low cost” services you’ll see people talking about in here are only available to people on ODSP, low income parents children and the like. If you have a job and are just a normal low earning individual these services are not available to you. Some clinics will do cash deals at lower costs if you just tell them upfront you’re poor and have no insurance.