The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has heard the concerns of families of children with cleft lip and palate and is responding with concrete action. The Department of Health and Community Services has reviewed the Cleft Lip and Palate Program and is making the following improvements:
- Covering the initial assessment fee of approximately $120, retroactively effective as of October 1, 2025.
- Increasing the cap per treatment from the current $5,519 to $6,656, retroactively effective as of April 1, 2026.
- Covering up to five instances of treatment/stages with a lifetime cap of $33,280. The dental monitoring committee, which is responsible for approving cleft lip and palate dental and orthodontic-related applications, will have discretion in exceptional circumstances to exceed the $6,656 cap per treatment/stage, provided the total funding remains within the lifetime cap. This change is retroactively effective to January 1, 2025.
Patients who have paid for cleft lip and/or palate orthodontic services out-of-pocket above the old cap, but below the new cap of $6,656 between January 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026, will be reimbursed. The provincial dental consultant will review all cases back to January 1, 2025, and contact families to arrange repayment. The dental monitoring committee will also revisit cases above the $6,656 per instance cap to determine if an exception should be applied within the new lifetime cap. The updates to the Cleft Lip and/or Palate Program will also be shared on the Department of Health and Community Services website’s Dental Services page. More information on the dental monitoring committee is in the backgrounder below. Families may contact the provincial dental consultant at (709) 758-1503 or at HCSDentalConsultant@gov.nl.ca if they have any questions.
About 10 to 12 children in Newfoundland and Labrador are born each year with cleft lip and/or palate. These increases in coverage will help relieve financial pressures on families while providing services at the full MCP rates that have been negotiated with the NL Dental Association.
The review complements the new government’s other actions to create better health care for all of us, including signing three new agreements with the NL Dental Association to improve access to the province’s dental programs, modernizing the Pharmaceutical Act to reduce red tape for health care providers, and investing $5.4 billion in Budget 2026 to support residents and health care providers.
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“When our new government learned about the challenges families of children with cleft lip and cleft palate are facing, we initiated the review and made improvements to the program, so that Newfoundland and Labrador families can focus more on caring for their children and less on worrying about finances.”
Honourable Lela Evans
Minister of Health and Community Services
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BACKGROUNDER
In Newfoundland and Labrador, orthodontic services associated with cleft lip and/or palate are approved when medically necessary. Coverage is provided upon recommendation of the dental monitoring committee, which consists of five practicing dentists who review medical and clinical evidence. Provincial coverage is only available after the family has first exhausted any private insurance they may have.