The federal government now expects more Canadians whose dental needs have been delayed to register in its insurance plan, and the Minister of Health said this is the reason for the estimated $7 billion increase in cost.

On Tuesday, the government revealed in its 2023 budget that the insurance program run by the federal government will be much more expensive over the next five years than originally thought.

Ongoing costs are also expected to more than double thereafter, reaching $4.4 billion annually, up from $1.7 billion.

Duclos said administrative costs did not contribute to the price increase. He said in an interview on Thursday, "There are more people with greater needs."

New estimates also suggest that dentists may end up seeing up to nine million patients who previously did not have coverage.

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that there are many people who do not earn enough money to afford dental care but earn too much to qualify for provincial low-income programs.

Trudeau added in a press conference in Moncton: "We want to close this gap for hardworking Canadians."

The program is designed for people without insurance and whose family income is under $90,000 per year. Families with an income under $70,000 will not need to make copayments.

In the same context, Duclos said the scale of the program should not be underestimated – it is bigger than any permanent government benefits program so far.

Dental care is the cornerstone of the confidence and supply agreement signed by the Liberals with the New Democratic Party in March 2022.

The New Democrats pledged to vote with the government on key items to prevent an election before 2025 in exchange for progress on certain priorities.

This includes fixed timelines for launching the dental care program by the end of this year for low-income and uninsured children under 18, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Full implementation is expected by 2025.

Also, within two weeks of signing this agreement, the Liberal government presented a budget that included federal dental care, and Duclos said more work has been done since then to get a better idea of the cost.

He said they realized that demand would be higher than expected when they saw uptake of the dental benefit for children under 12 this year.

Additionally, the Liberals expected the temporary benefit to reach nearly 500,000 children between October 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024.

But the government has already cut 240,000 checks to help families pay for oral health appointments.

The plan is to replace this benefit with a full insurance program for eligible people by the end of the year, but Duclos and his team still have a lot to sort out before people start submitting claims.