Ministerial programs for promoting oral health and hygiene are not very effective. Over 90 percent Polish teenagers suffer from tooth decay, and the percentage of toothlessness in adults is growing – according to the NIK report.
NIK emphasizes that in villages and small towns, most children are almost completely deprived of public dental care.
The Chamber reminds that the dental care market in Poland is dominated by private entities. In 2011, nearly 80 percent. the insured persons have not used the services of a dentist under the National Health Fund even once. Services provided in clinics under contracts with the National Health Fund are limited in scope, some treatments are not reimbursed, and patients usually do not even know where the nearest dental office contracted by the National Health Fund is located.
The NIK report shows that access to public dental services in different regions of Poland varies considerably. The worst situation is in small towns and villages, where most children have been completely deprived of professional prophylaxis and dental treatment. In the opinion of the Chamber, this situation results, inter alia, from the fact that dentists mostly run their offices in large cities and academic centers, which forces residents of small towns to look for a dentist outside their municipalities.
NIK emphasizes that in 2010–2012 there was not a single national caries prevention program financed by the Ministry of Health. According to the ministry, the reason was limited financial resources. Dental treatment was also not included in the priority group specified in the ordinance of the Minister of Health of August 21, 2009. Meanwhile, nearly 10 percent. Polish seven-year-olds have never visited a dentist, and as many as 92 percent XNUMX-year-olds have tooth decay.
According to NIK, not only parents are responsible for this state of affairs, but also the education and health care system. In more developed countries, both education and prophylaxis in the field of oral hygiene are tasks of schools and kindergartens. Polish educational institutions undertake them only to a minimal extent. The situation was additionally worsened by the liquidation of school dentists’ offices.
In the opinion of the Chamber, the actions taken by the Minister of Health to combat tooth decay in children and adolescents turned out to be ineffective. The National Health Program for 2007–2015 assumed a significant increase in the percentage of children and adolescents covered by pro-health education, limiting their caries and improving access to dental services. The key tasks of the Program have still not been performed. The Oral Health Monitoring of the Polish Population Program also, for the most part, did not bring the expected results.
On the other hand, NIK positively assessed the activities of the Ministry of Health to obtain funding from foreign sources for pro-health education programs. It is, for example, a program promoting oral health in preschool children as part of the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program. The efforts of the head of the Ministry of Health resulted in the signing of the contract in July 2012. (PAP)