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Alberta Liberals pledge to make dental care more affordable

Apr 1, 2019 | 3:12 PM

CALGARY, AB — The Alberta Liberal Party says if they’re elected, they will work to make dental care more affordable in Alberta.

Liberal leader David Khan released his party’s platform on dental care on Monday, saying making the market more competitive will help bring prices down.

“We will direct the Alberta Dental Association and College allow dentists greater freedom to advertise their services,” Khan wrote in a statement. “We will also lift restrictions on dentists being able to offer promotions or special pricing for groups such as seniors or children. We will require dentists to discuss prices up front and publicly list their standard prices in comparison to the Dental Fee Guide.”

Back in 2017, the NDP announced a new dental fee guide for the province, which dropped the price for roughly 60 procedures by 8.5 per cent. A review in 2016 found Albertans paid more for certain dental services than other provinces.

Khan says the Liberals will also make the dental fee guide mandatory for “essential dental services,” and add they will provide a $50 million funding increase to improve access to dental services for children and low-income Albertans.

The platform also includes pressuring the federal government to fund a universal essential dental care program.

Albertans head to the polls on April 16.