A new agreement between government and the province’s dentists includes new coverage for adult tooth extractions and funding to help address the shortage of dentists in rural areas.

The President of the NL Dental Association, Dr. Craig Smith, says they’re especially pleased to see MCP continue dental coverage for children through to 2030.

“We actually have one of the best children’s dental care plans in the country. We’re the envy of a lot of provinces. This new agreement has firmed that contract up for the next four years. So, all of our kids in Newfoundland and Labrador are covered up to their 13th birthday, without any restrictions.” He says they’ve also made some new additions to the agreement “we’ve made it better. Those are significant achievements, we didn’t want to see any deterioration in this plan whatsoever.”

The agreement includes the introduction of a rural retention bonus to keep 10 dentists already practicing in under-serviced areas, and an increase to the Rural Dental Bursary Program.