Dentistry tuition in Halifax close to most expensive in Canada

Tuition fees for dentistry in Halifax are now over $27,000 per year, making it the third most expensive city to study the program in the country.

For Haligonians aspiring to become dentists, that price tag is a tough pill to swallow.

“What we are seeing is more student groups that are already kind of underrepresented being priced out of an education,” said Lydia Houck, the executive director of Students Nova Scotia.

The rate of increasing tuition is not the same across all cities. If current trends continue, Halifax will soon overtake Vancouver for the second most expensive dentistry tuition.

“If the tuition costs are climbing higher than in the other provinces, that's one thing, but I doubt the compensation you're getting is increasing at the same level. A dentist in Vancouver is probably going to be getting paid a lot more than someone in Halifax,” Houck said.

In Canada's labour market information survey, the median income for a dentist in Nova Scotia is $115,050, lower than the national median of $118,394.

“The cost of absolutely everything is climbing, and even if you're getting compensation right out of your degree, your debt level is going to be so high that it's still going to take a really big toll on that sort of thing,” Houck said.

Potentially the biggest shock to aspiring dentists is the cost of their program when compared to others in the medical field. The difference extends across all of Canada.

Dentistry tuition in Canada is more than twice as much as optometry and veterinary. 

“What we are probably seeing is that more and more students who otherwise would be seeking out that industry or other professional programs are not considering it a viable option because the costs are so high,” Houck said.

Such differences in cost may be enough to make aspiring dentists switch to other medical fields.

“Those sorts of costs are going to be a deterrent … They're going to be turning away from the higher costing programs, regardless of what they're most interested in or what the greatest demand is for,” Houck said.

“If we're looking at socio-economic breakdown, and what students are being priced out of it, I think is a really important consideration,” Houck added.