CHAS Dental Fee Benchmarks and Clinical Justifications

The Ministry of Health (MOH) introduced fee benchmarks for 18 common dental procedures under the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS). The benchmarks are reference ranges intended to help patients and providers discuss treatment costs; they are not strict fee caps. From 1 September 2026, CHAS dental clinics must submit clinical justifications for CHAS subsidy claims that exceed the applicable benchmarks (MOH, 1 September 2025).

What the benchmarks mean

The Dental Fee Benchmarking Advisory Committee (DFBAC) developed the first set of ranges after reviewing past CHAS claims, variation in procedural complexity, fee clustering and the reasonableness of the resulting range. The committee also consulted professional associations and dental clinics. MOH says the ranges generally reflect the majority of current charging practices for typical cases in private primary-care dental clinics, and that the benchmarks will be reviewed periodically (MOH, 1 September 2025).

The 18 procedures include consultation, extractions, simple and complex fillings, complete and partial removable dentures, denture repair or reline, permanent crowns, re-cementation, anterior, pre-molar and molar root-canal treatment, polishing, scaling, topical fluoride and two types of X-ray. Published benchmark ranges vary by procedure: for example, consultation is S$21–S$31, scaling is S$35–S$60, permanent crowns are S$750–S$1,400, and molar root-canal treatment is S$872–S$1,400 (MOH, 1 September 2025). These are benchmark ranges for typical cases, not a promise that every patient will be charged within them.

Relationship to CHAS subsidies

The benchmarks complement, but do not replace, CHAS subsidy rules. From 1 October 2025, MOH extended subsidies of up to S$45.50 for ten basic and preventive procedures to CHAS Orange cardholders and increased support for seven restorative procedures for Pioneer Generation, Merdeka Generation, CHAS Blue and CHAS Orange cardholders. From mid-2026, seniors aged 60 and above can also use Flexi-MediSave for up to S$400 per year for root-canal treatments and permanent crowns at CHAS dental clinics and public healthcare institutions (MOH, 1 September 2025).

An amount above a benchmark is not automatically prohibited or automatically ineligible for subsidy. The 1 September 2026 measure adds a clinical-justification submission requirement for claims above the benchmark. Patients should use the range as a discussion and comparison reference, while clinics must follow the separate claim and documentation rules that apply to CHAS (MOH, 1 September 2025).

Clinic accreditation and interpretation

CHAS dental clinics must display the relevant benchmarks next to their price lists so patients can make informed decisions. Clinics also need to onboard Flexi-MediSave, and dental practitioners in CHAS dental clinics must be MediSave-accredited for the Flexi-MediSave arrangements. MOH states that clinics not Flexi-MediSave-accredited by 31 December 2026 will be offboarded from CHAS (MOH, 1 September 2025). The framework is therefore a combination of fee transparency, subsidy governance and clinic accreditation; it is not a national price-control regime or a guarantee of free dental treatment.

The onboarding requirement is tied to the Flexi-MediSave arrangements for permanent crowns and root-canal treatment, which MOH says are available from mid-2026 to seniors aged 60 and above. CHAS dental clinics could submit onboarding applications from October 2025, while practitioners could begin applying for MediSave accreditation earlier. This creates separate operational questions for a patient: whether the clinic remains a CHAS clinic, whether the practitioner is MediSave-accredited, what subsidy cap applies to the patient’s CHAS card, and whether the treatment price is above the benchmark. None of those questions turns the benchmark into a fixed maximum charge (MOH, 1 September 2025).