There are less than 650 school dental offices in Poland. To make more of them, the National Health Fund will award additional points for the location of the surgery on the school premises. In the opinion of the NRL, however, it is doubtful that this would contribute to the improvement of the children’s teeth.
The new ordinance of the president of the National Health Fund regarding dental offices has been in force since Friday. It allows for awarding additional points to service providers applying for a contract both in the field of services for children and adolescents up to 18 years of age, and in the field of general dental services, including adults.
«We want as many children as possible to have access to dental care in their schools. It is primarily about creating conditions for effective dental prophylaxis and early detection and treatment of caries in children and adolescents. We hope that thanks to the ordinance it will be possible to launch school offices, especially in provincial departments where the availability of dental services in schools is insufficient »- emphasizes the president of the National Health Fund, Tadeusz Jędrzejczyk.
According to the Supreme Medical Council, the direction of changes chosen by the National Health Fund is good, but their implementation is not well thought out.
«The fact that the problem of dental care over Polish children has finally become more and more should be assessed positively. It is good that additional points are introduced for those willing to run offices for children and adolescents in schools. I doubt, however, whether this method will significantly contribute to the improvement of the teeth of the youngest »- assessed Agnieszka Ruchała-Tyszler, vice-president of the NRL.
She added that promoting school offices in contracting may be an incentive to open new practices, but it should be remembered that other problems have not been solved so far, such as the possibility of treating a minor without the presence of a parent or legal guardian, or the possibility of school offices functioning after the school is closed.
«One should also think about actions increasing the awareness and knowledge of health needs among adults and children, because in Poland there is a lame field much more than the availability of dental care itself. All institutions focused on the prevention and treatment of children should be promoted »- she emphasized.
In her opinion, it is difficult to say today whether and how much additional funds will be allocated for this purpose, and whether sometimes it will not be the case that financing procedures in schools will reduce the already small pool of benefits for adults by shifting the same money to another scope.
«It is difficult to understand why additional funds are not introduced for the treatment of children and adolescents. To sum up – the direction is good, but its implementation is not well thought out in the realities of today’s dental care in Poland »- concludes Ruchała-Tyszler.
According to the data of the Fund, 646 dental offices are currently operating in schools under the contract with the National Health Fund. There are 33 in Poland. primary schools, middle schools and high schools; This school year, there are over 4,9 million students in grades from first to matura. There are 8923 offices in all surgeries that provide services for children and adults or only for children. The value of contracts concluded by the National Health Fund for 2015 in the scope of general dental services is PLN 1,25 billion, and in the scope of services for children and adolescents – PLN 131 million.
In 2014, more than 64 million dental services were provided to children and adolescents, and the number of orthodontics services for children and adolescents and services under the orthodontic care program for children with congenital defects of the facial part of the skull was over two million.
The National Health Fund ensures that it monitors the demand for dental treatment on an ongoing basis – it is determined by voivodship departments, e.g. on the basis of an analysis of the services provided and the number of people waiting for them. The Fund also points out that the number of contracts concluded by branches also depends on the number of offers submitted by service providers that meet the requirements.
The largest number of dental offices in primary schools, junior high schools and high schools is in the Lubelskie Province – 162. They operate there in 23 poviats; they are most numerous in Lublin alone – 58.
The topic of caries in the youngest Poles was raised by the spokesman for children’s rights, Marek Michalak, who in an interview with PAP said that in Poland we are dealing with an epidemic of caries in children – broken teeth have more than 85 percent. 6-year-olds and 95 percent 18-year-olds.