CDCP treatment preauthorization: a guide for dental clinics

What is the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)?

The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is a federal dental benefits plan, administered by Health Canada, that helps eligible residents pay for dental care. For some treatments, the plan asks clinics to submit a treatment preauthorization request before it will pay.

When the CDCP requires preauthorization

Preauthorization under the CDCP follows the same shape as plan preauthorization anywhere: the clinic submits a request with the planned treatment and its supporting records, and the plan approves it in advance or asks for more.

What clinics are handling in practice

The volume is real. In the CDCP update of June 18, 2026, via Oral Health Group, less than half of dental preauthorization requests were approved — and clinics had submitted roughly 480,000 complete requests for treatment preauthorization in just three months (March 1 – May 31, 2026).

That figure is cited and sourced on Ophi’s homepage. It matters to clinics because each of those requests was paperwork someone had to assemble.

Preparing a complete CDCP preauthorization request

A complete request gives the plan everything it needs once: the treatment plan, the clinical explanation, and the records behind it. Requests that are complete the first time move through review without the back-and-forth that stretches wait times.

Ophi is starting with the work behind these requests — the preparation that turns a treatment into a submittable file. It’s early, and we’ll share more when it’s ready.