Canada's dental care plan begins today. Here's what you need to know

The massive public oral health-care insurance program will eventually cover one quarter of Canadian residents who don't have private dental plans, at a cost of $13 billion over the next five years.

"They are very excited to have their teeth cleaned because it has been many years," said Shannon Maitland, an independent dental hygienist who runs a mobile clinic out of Carleton Place, just outside of Ottawa.

Dentists, denturists and hygienists have generally supported a national, publicly funded dental insurance program, arguing it will fill the gap of nine million low- and middle-income Canadians who have to pay for oral health care out of pocket.

Holland said the federal government made the system easier to use while still keeping the necessary checks in place to guard against abuse, such as allowing Ottawa to audit claims.

As Doucet mentioned, the federal government has created its own fee grid of what it will pay oral health-care providers for each procedure, which is a slightly lower rate than the guides put out by provincial associations dentists.

The government passed legislation last summer that requires employers to declare to the Canada Revenue Agency if they offer workers a private dental plan.