Does the CDCP Cover Teeth Cleaning at Home?

Short answer: yes. If you qualify for the Canadian Dental Care Plan, it covers a professional cleaning — and you do not have to go to a dental office to use it.

That second part surprises people. The most common question we get is some version of "can I actually use my CDCP at home?" The plan covers the service, not the building it happens in. Here is how it works.

Dental hygienists can bill the CDCP directly

Health Canada lists dental hygienists as eligible participating CDCP providers, alongside dentists, denturists and dental specialists. An independent hygienist enrolls through Sun Life and submits your claim the same way a dental office would.

That means you are not paying the full amount up front and chasing a reimbursement afterward. In fact, the plan is explicit that there is no mechanism for CDCP clients to claim reimbursement from Sun Life themselves — your provider bills the plan and you pay only what is left.

Do you qualify?

Four things have to be true, all at once:

• You have no access to private dental insurance — including through a spouse, an employer, a pension, or a health spending account that covers dental

• You filed a tax return for the previous year — and so did your spouse or common-law partner, if you have one

• Your adjusted family net income is under $90,000

• You are a Canadian resident for tax purposes

The plan is now open to every age group. One thing worth flagging for 2026: coverage runs on an annual cycle and has to be renewed each year. If you let a renewal lapse, there is a gap, and the plan does not pay retroactively for treatment during that gap. Check your renewal date before you book.

What the plan covers in a 12-month period

For adults, the core preventive services break down like this:

• Scaling — up to 4 units, combined with root planing. A unit is roughly 15 minutes of instrumentation.

• Polishing — half a unit

• Topical fluoride — 1 treatment

• Recall examination — 1 visit

Four units is a meaningful amount of scaling — enough for most people who come in regularly, and enough for a reasonably thorough first visit if it has been a while. If you need more than that, additional units can be approved through preauthorization, usually on the basis of periodontal disease or a related medical condition. Desensitization also requires preauthorization as of 2026.

What you actually pay

The CDCP does not always cover the full amount. How much it pays depends on your adjusted family net income:

• Under $70,000 — the plan pays 100% of the CDCP established fee. No co-payment.

• $70,000 to $79,999 — the plan pays 60%. You pay the remaining 40%.

• $80,000 to $89,999 — the plan pays 40%. You pay the remaining 60%.

There is a second thing to understand here, and it is the part most articles get wrong. Those percentages are of the

CDCP's own established fee — not of whatever your provider charges. Providers are allowed to charge more than the CDCP fee. They are encouraged not to, but nothing prohibits it. What they are required to do is tell you about any amount the plan will not cover and get your consent before treatment begins.

So the question to ask any provider is simple: "Do you bill at the CDCP fee, and if not, what will I owe?" You should get a clear answer before anyone picks up an instrument. Coverage is also verified at each appointment, so a quote from six months ago is not a guarantee.

Does it cover a hygienist coming to your home?

It covers the services, wherever they are delivered. A scaling unit performed in your living room is billed under the same code as a scaling unit performed in a clinic operatory. At Toth Dental Hygiene there is no travel surcharge, mileage charge or call-out fee for at-home dental care in London — the fee for the appointment is the fee for the appointment. If you would rather come to us, our in-clinic appointments are priced the same way.

If you are weighing the two, our walkthrough of what actually happens during an at-home visit covers the practical side, and our 2026 fee guide breakdown has the actual dollar figures.

CDCP or OSDCP — which one applies to you?

If you are 65 or older in Ontario, you may have heard of the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program. It is a separate provincial program with much tighter income limits: an annual net income of $25,480 or less for a single senior, or $42,290 or less combined for a couple. Ontario reviews these figures periodically, so confirm the current numbers on ontario.ca before applying.

The important practical difference is how OSDCP is delivered. It runs only through public health units, participating community health centres and Aboriginal Health Access Centres — not through private practices. Locally that means the Middlesex-London Health Unit clinics in London and Strathroy (519-663-5317, ask for Oral Health).

An independent dental hygienist cannot bill OSDCP. If you qualify for it, it is absolutely worth applying for — but for care in your own home from a private provider, the CDCP is the plan that applies.

How to get started

Apply for the CDCP through Canada.ca or by phone. Once you are approved, Sun Life sends you a member card with a start date. You can book as soon as that date arrives.

When you call us, have your CDCP details handy and tell us roughly how long it has been since your last cleaning — that lets us give you a realistic estimate of units and any co-payment before we arrive. Call 519-697-5051 or book online.

Coverage details in this article come from the Government of Canada's Canadian Dental Care Plan benefit guide and from Ontario's seniors dental care program pages, current as of publication. Eligibility rules and figures change; confirm your own coverage with Sun Life before treatment.