Get the ODA guidebook

Your local Ontario library’s reference section could well have the most recent copy of the Ontario Dental Association’s (ODA) “ODA Suggested Fee Guide for General Practitioners”. It lists all the codes for all sorts of dental work, including orthodontics, so it’s probably your best resource. As it’s in the reference section, it can’t be checked out. And as it’s at the library – and you may be nowhere near home – you’ll most likely have trouble getting to it. Consider asking friends and family if they would be willing to go to the library to look up and convey to you the codes you think you need.

Let’s say you can’t get to the library and you can’t ask someone to do it for you. Next best bet: find a copy of the ODA fee guide online.

To be clear, the ODA doesn’t widely share the guide publicly. Aside from the copy at the library, the book’s only for ODA members – dentists and orthodontists – not the general public. We did ask the ODA if the organization would make an exception for us as foreign-service families and given our unique situation living abroad without access to Canada-based dental services and information. Since we can’t get to the library, would the ODA be willing to send us a copy? No dice, no guide for us.

Nonetheless, you can find a copy of the guide on the web. Use your preferred search engine and enter this search term: “ODA guide 2022”. You’ll probably find a link to the guide on a certain university website. Download that PDF! It seems highly likely that, given the ODA’s reluctance to share the guide publicly, that link may disappear at some point, so maybe take a break from reading this article and do it right now, just in case. Yes, it’s out of date, but it’s the most recent version we found that’s readily downloadable, and most of the codes are probably the same now as they were in 2022. The 2025 version is out there, too, but it seems you’ll need to join a certain group to get it. So the 2022 version may be easier to grab.

We also asked the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) if this national organization would be willing to share its code book with us. That’s a no, CDA said.

Other solutions

The “Healthy Smiles Ontario Schedule of Dental Services and Fees for Dentist Providers” lists many common dental codes, but only those covered through the Ontario government’s implementation of the relatively new federal dental plan for all Canadians. Codes for orthodontics, for example, are not included. Still, it seems to be the next best thing after the ODA guide – and unlike the ODA, the Ontario government likely has no problem sharing this information, so it probably won’t try to have it taken off the web.

FS and Facebook

Some FS and spouses have taken to sharing some of the more common codes among themselves on social media. Not every code, but many. Search your friendly neighbourhood FS- and FS-family-related Facebook groups to find them.

Details, details

Still can’t find the codes you need? Although the ODA and the CDA both left us high and dry with respect to sharing their fee guides, the ODA did give us some advice: Get as much detail as you can from your dentist overseas, and convey that info to Canada Life.

“It is the insurance carrier’s responsibility to convert the services provided to the codes

used in Ontario in order to process the claim,” the ODA said via email. “You may wish to contact the treating dentist and request for them to write a letter that includes detailed information related to the treatment provided. It would be important for the dentist to include a level of detail that is sufficient (e.g. location in the mouth, number of surfaces, material used, treatment time, etc.) for the insurance carrier to process the claim if the services are eligible under the dental plan contract.”

Does Canada Life really need us to provide dental codes?