Comprehensive Dental Care Services

The Canadian Forces (CF) (through the Canadian Forces Dental Services) provides comprehensive dental care, as defined in Queen's Regulations and Orders (QR&O) 35.01, to entitled personnel. Levels of dental care range from urgent dental care to operational dental fitness care and oral health dental care. Dental Care is delivered by a complement of general practitioners and specialists in a managed setting utilizing priorities for care, selection criteria and evidence-based guidelines.

Levels of Dental Care

Urgent Dental Care. Includes restricted dental treatment and is the care provided to relieve acute pain; treat acute oral conditions; treat trauma to oral and associated facial structures, including broken teeth and fillings; and/or repair broken dentures and other oral appliances.

Operational Dental Fitness Care. This is the non-urgent dental care required to establish a state of operational dental fitness. It includes dental care that, in the opinion of the treating dentist, cannot be deferred for 12 months or more without increasing the likelihood of a dental urgency. The care required to establish a state of operational dental fitness is defined in A-MD-007-089/JD-000, Canadian Forces Dental Care Program (CFDCP). All CF members entitled to comprehensive dental care shall be provided with ‘Operational Dental Fitness Care’.

Oral Health Care. This is the dental care required to establish oral health, and includes all dental care beyond that required to establish a state of operational dental fitness. This includes preventive dental care and rehabilitative dental care to re-establish oral health, and is in keeping with the standard and scope of oral health care available to most Canadians. CF members entitled to comprehensive dental care are eligible for Oral Health Care depending upon the availability of resources.

Throughout the continuum of levels of dental care a wide range of dental services are available to entitled personnel. Eligible dental services mean services listed hereafter, when rendered by a dental officer/dentist or dental specialist, or rendered by a dental hygienist/dental assistant, (or rendered by a licensed denturologist/ denturist) under the direct supervision /prescription of a dental officer/dentist or dental specialist.

Eligible dental services include:

Diagnostic Services

  1. oral examination;
  2. oro-facial examination;
  3. intra and extra-oral radiographs;
  4. advanced diagnostic imaging;
  5. biopsy of oral tissue;
  6. tests and laboratory assessments; and
  7. diagnosis and treatment planning.

Preventive Services

  1. oral hygiene instructions;
  2. dental cleaning;
  3. fluoride treatment;
  4. caries control;
  5. pit & fissure sealants;
  6. diet & nutritional counseling;
  7. group instruction;
  8. sports mouth guards; and
  9. other preventive services.

Periodontal Services

  1. non-surgical services;
  2. scaling & root planing;
  3. surgical services;
  4. post-surgical treatment;
  5. occlusal equilibration;
  6. occlusal appliances; and
  7. other periodontic services.

Restorative Services - Minor

  1. amalgam, resin, glass ionomer restorations;
  2. pin reinforcements for these restorations;
  3. temporary restorations; and
  4. polishing of restorations.

Restorative Services - Major

  1. crowns & inlays;
  2. labial veneers;
  3. retentive pins, posts and cores; and
  4. other restorative services.

Prosthodontic Services - Minor

  1. removable dentures (complete and partial);
  2. repairs;
  3. adjustments; and
  4. relining & rebasing

Prosthodontic Services - Major

  1. fixed dentures (bridges);
  2. repairs of fixed appliances;
  3. implant supported prostheses;
  4. oro-facial and cranial prosthetic rehabilitation; and
  5. other prosthetic services.

Orthodontic Services - Minor

  1. minor tooth movement to correct crowding/spacing in a quadrant/sextant/arch;
  2. positioning abutment teeth prior to prosthodontic treatment; and
  3. treatment that can normally be completed within 12 months.

Orthodontic Services - Major

  1. treatment to correct a functional disability related to malocclusion.

Endodontic Services

  1. pulp capping;
  2. pulpotomy & pulpectomy;
  3. non-surgical root canal therapy;
  4. retreatment;
  5. surgical root canal therapy; and
  6. other endodontic services.

Surgical Services

  1. removal of cyst, tumors, and neoplasms;
  2. treatment of oral and maxillofacial fractures;
  3. surgical correction of maxillofacial deformities;
  4. extractions;
  5. surgical extractions;
  6. surgical / capsular or muscular intervention in TMD therapy;
  7. soft and hard tissue pre-prosthetic surgery;
  8. placement of osseointegrated implants; and
  9. other surgical services.

Adjunctive General Services

  1. emergency services not otherwise specified;
  2. management of TMD;
  3. sedation;
  4. consultation;
  5. forensic dental service; and
  6. other adjunctive services.