Canada
Also known as: CA
Dental fees in Canada are set by each practice, loosely anchored to the annual suggested fee guide published by the dental association of the province the practice sits in; those guides are advisory rather than binding, and the federal Canadian Dental Care Plan excludes implants and all implant-related procedures outright.
CA · prices quoted in CAD
How implant treatment is priced and regulated
| Official fee schedule | There is no national dental fee schedule. Each provincial dental association publishes its own annual suggested fee guide, and each guide is explicitly advisory: the Alberta guide's preamble states that "The fees listed herein are published to serve merely as a guide. No dentist receiving this list is under any obligation to accept the fees itemized", the Government of Alberta states that "The fees in the dental guide are recommended, but are not mandatory. Dentists continue to set the fees they charge for services", and the British Columbia Dental Association answers the question of whether dentists must follow its guide with "No. While many dentists will follow a number of fees within the guide, there is no requirement to do so."Verified spec[6][1][7]Because the guides are provincial, no single figure from any one of them is a Canadian national figure. |
|---|---|
| Is the fee guide public? | Publication practice differs by province. Alberta and British Columbia publish free abbreviated public editions of their 2026 guides — Alberta's covers common procedures only, British Columbia's is a two-page patient version — and neither abbreviated edition contains any implant item. The full British Columbia guide runs to over 1,400 codes. Ontario's Suggested Fee Guide is behind a member login, its landing page stating that "This content is available only to registered members of the Ontario Dental Association". The most recent full line-by-line guide located in public is Alberta's January 2021 edition, published on the website of the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta.Verified spec[8][9][7][10][6] |
| Procedure coding system | Procedure codes are national. The Canadian Dental Association's Uniform System of Coding & List of Services (USC&LS) defines the codes the provincial guides are built on, including the 79900 implantology class — 79931 surgical installation of implant with cover screw, per implant; 79941 surgical installation of implant (single-component), per implant; 79961 and 79962 for removal. The class heading states it "Includes placement of implant, post-surgical care, uncovering and placement of attachment but not prosthesis". The USC&LS itself carries no fees, and is licensed rather than freely republished: it is "intended for the sole use of the Corporate Members of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) and other organizations having signed the USC&LS Licensing Agreement".Verified spec[11] |
| Implant items in the schedule | In the most recent full Canadian fee guide available publicly — the Alberta Dental Association and College Guide for Dental Fees for General Dentists, January 2021 — every code in the 79900 implantology class carries the marker "I.C." instead of a fee. The guide defines it: "The letters 'I.C.' following a procedure code indicates a designation 'Independent Consideration' and is utilized when the procedure involves complexities which are too variable to designate a specific fee." That applies to 79931 and 79941 (surgical installation of an implant), to 79961/79962 (removal), and to the implant abutment codes 26101 and 26102. The prosthetic codes above the implant do carry suggested fees: as at January 2021 that guide suggested CAD 861.59 for code 27205, an implant-supported porcelain/ceramic/polymer glass crown, and the same figure for the metal-ceramic (27215) and cast metal (27305) implant-supported crowns — each marked "+L +E", meaning laboratory costs and material expenses are coded and charged separately on top.Verified spec[6]These are Alberta figures as at January 2021 and are superseded: the association has published a new guide each year since, and the current full line-by-line edition was not found in public. They are recorded because they show what a Canadian fee guide does and does not state about implants, not as a current price. |
| Public funding for implants | Not funded. The Canadian Dental Care Plan's Dental Benefits Guide, effective 1 April 2026, lists "implants and all implant-related procedures" in Appendix E: Exclusions — "oral health care procedures that are always outside the scope of the CDCP and are not eligible for coverage at any time". The guide states separately that "Implants and ridge augmentation are exclusions under the CDCP", that "Any types of crowns supported by implants, as well as all implant-related procedures, are not covered", and that "Complete and partial dentures supported by implants as well as all implant-related procedures are exclusions". Exclusions "are never eligible for reconsideration".Verified spec[2]The CDCP is administered by Sun Life on behalf of Health Canada; adjudication of any exception request rests with Health Canada, and the guide describes coverage of exceptions as "expected to be extremely rare". |
| Regulator and public register | Dentists are registered provincially, not nationally, so there is no single Canadian register — each province and territory has its own regulator with its own public register. In Ontario the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario publishes the register as "Find a Dentist" (https://www.rcdso.org/en-ca/find-a-dentist); in British Columbia the British Columbia College of Oral Health Professionals publishes a single public register covering dentists, denturists, licensed dental assistants, dental technicians and dental therapists (https://oralhealthbc.ca/public-register/), which records whether a practitioner may practise, what they may provide and any disciplinary action.Verified spec[3][4]Only two provinces are recorded here as examples. A patient in another province must check that province's own regulator. |
| taxTreatment | Dental services supplied by a dentist are exempt supplies for GST/HST purposes, while cosmetic services are taxable: the Canada Revenue Agency describes "taxable supplies (for example, cosmetic services and orthodontic appliances)" as against "exempt supplies of dental services", and states that "The making of exempt supplies, such as orthodontic services, is not a commercial activity for GST/HST purposes."Verified spec[5]This notice concerns input tax credits and does not address implants specifically. Whether tax is added to any particular implant line turns on the purpose test between health care and cosmetic supply, which was not resolved here — ask the practice whether the quoted figure includes GST/HST. |
| Published figure | Not publicly verified(No Canadian official schedule states a fee for placing a dental implant. Checked: the Canadian Dental Association's USC&LS (national codes, no fees); the Alberta Dental Association and College full guide of January 2021 (all 79900 implantology codes marked Independent Consideration — no fee); the Alberta 2026 and British Columbia 2026 abbreviated public guides (no implant items at all); the Ontario Dental Association's guide (member login only, not inspected); and the Canadian Dental Care Plan Dental Benefits Guide (implants excluded, so it publishes no implant rate). The one implant-related figure a guide does state is recorded separately under scheduleImplantItems and is a 2021 Alberta crown fee, not a price for an implant. Clinic websites were not used and may not be used to fill this field.) |
What actually drives the price here
Four things move a Canadian implant quotation, and all of them are visible on an itemised plan. First, province: the guides differ, and a fee that tracks the Ontario guide is not the same number as one tracking the British Columbia guide. Second, what the guide leaves open — the fixture, the abutment and any grafting sit under Independent Consideration, so those lines are set entirely by the practice, while the crown line usually tracks the guide closely. Third, the "+L +E" convention: laboratory work and material expenses are separate codes, so a crown fee quoted without them is not the whole crown. Fourth, whether the case is done by a general dentist or referred to a specialist, which changes both the fee and the number of practices billing. Since implants are excluded from the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and any private plan sets its own terms, the patient should assume they are paying for the whole of it until a plan says otherwise — which is exactly why the coded line-by-line plan matters more here than a headline total.
What to ask for, wherever you are treated
A quote you can compare is itemised. Ask for each of these in writing before you commit — the answers matter more than the headline figure, and a clinic that will not put them in writing has told you something useful.
- — The implant system by name, so the components can be sourced later
- — Fixture, abutment and crown priced separately
- — Whether a CBCT scan and the surgical guide are included
- — What a bone graft or sinus lift would add, if one turns out to be needed
- — The guarantee terms in full, including what voids them
- — Who provides follow-up care, and what a corrective visit would cost
Sources
Numbers match the citations beside each claim above.
Primary sources
- [1]Dental fees in Alberta — Government of Alberta. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [2]Canadian Dental Care Plan — Dental Benefits Guide (effective 1 April 2026) — Health Canada, 2026. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [3]Find a Dentist — the public register of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario — Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [4]BCCOHP Public Registry — British Columbia College of Oral Health Professionals. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [5]GST/HST Notice 339 — Input Tax Credits Related to Dental Practices — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed 2026-07-22.
Additional references
- [6]Guide for Dental Fees for General Dentists, January 2021 — Alberta Dental Association and College, 2021. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [7]Dental Costs in BC — how the Suggested Fee Guide works — British Columbia Dental Association. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [8]Suggested Fee Guide for General Dentists: 2026 Abbreviated Version (effective 1 January – 31 December 2026) — Alberta Dental Association, 2026. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [9]2026 Abbreviated General Practitioner's Suggested Fee Guide, effective 1 February 2026 — British Columbia Dental Association, 2026. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [10]Suggested Fee Guides (Ontario Dental Association) — Ontario Dental Association. Accessed 2026-07-22.
- [11]Uniform System of Coding & List of Services (2024) / Système de codification normalisé et liste de services (2024) — Canadian Dental Association, 2024. Accessed 2026-07-22.