Quebec dentists are threatening to opt out of the provincial health insurance plan in 30 days if they don't get more money to deal with rising dental costs.

Dr. Serge Langlois, the president of the Quebec association of dental surgeons (Association des chirurgiens dentistes du Québec), says more than 2,300 of the province's 3,600 dentists are ready to pull out of the program and more are signing up each day.

Under the current health system in Quebec, dental care is provided for free to those on social assistance and to children under the age of 10. If the dentists were to pull out of medicare, those patients would have to pay for their dental costs out of pocket.

Dentists have been without an agreement since 2003. The association wants to increase its fee scale by at least 35 per cent to address rising dental care costs. Reports suggest that the province has offered a 24 per cent raise in billing fees, which the dentists refused.

Montreal dentist John Drummond says about 25 per cent of his clientele are children.

"The overhead costs of most offices are running between 60 and 70 per cent, and they're really only paying us between 50 and 65 per cent of what we would normally be charging," Drummond told CTV Montreal on Monday.

"So it's really an issue that they're covering the overhead, but not covering anything else that we're doing."

He says currently, dentists in Quebec make only about $10 an hour when they see a child or person on welfare.

"I've been in the dentistry business for 25 years and there's been basically no change in what we get paid by the government," said Drummond.

The Quebec Association of Dental Surgeons says it is already hearing about cases where some dentists are refusing to see younger patients or are postponing appointments for those on social assistance.

"We are not extravagant. We just want a fair renumeration," said Dr. Daniel Pelland, the association's executive-director.

The goal is to recoup about 80 per cent of what it costs them to treat those covered by the province.

At present, the remuneration rate is about 67 per cent.

"The dentists have always given a discount to the government because it was seen as a contribution to society,'' Langlois told a news conference.

"But our objective is to get a remuneration that is equal to 80 per cent of what is charged in the private sector.''

The dentists say they're still hoping for a deal before they pull out of medicare but are giving the government until March 27 to improve their offer. Right now, the average salary of a dentist in Quebec is $125,000.

But not every dentist is threatening to opt out. Drummond says he'll stay on out of concern for his young patients.

"The incentive is you treat the kids and then the parents become patients and the parents aren't covered by medicare and you charge regular fees for them."

With a report from CTV News' Jed Kahane