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A review of dental fees in Alberta released Thursday has confirmed what patients like Ambrose Blum have long suspected — prices are significantly higher and skyrocketing faster than anywhere else in Canada.

“It’s like fixing a car,” said Blum, adding high fees prompted him to have his teeth worked on only by students at the University of Alberta School of Dentistry. “You had to shop around. It was all over the board.”

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In mid-2015, following years of complaints of costly work and lack of transparency, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman launched a review of the province’s dental fees.

Based on the results, Hoffman announced the government will create a public dental fee guide to be released sometime in 2017. Alberta became the only province without a dental fee guide when the Alberta Dental Association and College stopped publishing a suggested fee guide in 1997.

The province also released a report of average dental fees in 2016 for the most common procedures that can be used as a reference for Albertans. It’s available at http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/dental-fees.html