There is no such thing as "600+ per dentist." Experts: "The mountain gave birth to a mouse".

There is no 600+ per dentist, but... the need is there. And this should be an inspiration for the National Health Service and the National Health Fund to work on a dental program for patients

On January 3, 2025, a regulation went into effect, expanding the basket of dental services available under the National Health Service. Among other things, adults will be able to benefit from the service of taking a pantomographic photo with a description, but only once every five years in combination with another service.

The media dubbed the procedure "600+ per dentist," which caused information chaos.

- It's not that we were given 600+ on hand and no one will and has received such money. There has been some increase in the services offered as part of the financial treatment to the public, namely the pantomogram procedure and two other additional procedures. They were already functioning before, so this is not an additional measure for a citizen in Poland," says Prof. Halina Ey-Chmielewska, vice president of the Regional Medical Council in Szczecin, a dentist.

- In general, nothing has changed for patients. Dentists are private providers who fulfill contracts with the National Health Fund. There are no new contracts signed and nothing has changed in the system, because each of the providers has the same amount as in previous years. The only thing that is changing is that queues are growing, because new procedures are entering, such as the immediate admission of children and emergency patients even under so-called "overcontracts," says Prof. Halina Ey-Chmielewska.

Dentists point out that the situation in dental treatment has been very difficult for years, and last year's fight for payment of overcontracts ended with only partial payment of money.

- There is a lot of PR in all this. Patients have been given some hope that they will have an extra 600 zlotys, and this is actually an additional service as part of a package funded by the National Health Service. It all sounds very interesting and exciting, but when we take a closer look at it, the result can be disappointing for patients, because expectations are much higher.

- The "600 plus per dentist" program turned out to be a kind of journalistic duck, but the fact that patients appeared to be very interested in it shows the problem with access to dental services under the National Health Fund. Patients wait many months to be able to receive dental services. On the one hand, we are strongly concerned about prophylaxis and the abysmal state of Poles' teeth, and on the other hand, treatment under the National Health Fund and prophylaxis is becoming so inaccessible that it is sometimes even impossible," says Agnieszka Borowiec- Rybkiewicz, a dentist and member of the Dental Committee of the Regional Medical Council in Szczecin.

The topic of overcontracting is not closed

The topic of the situation of dentists has been on the agenda of the Regional Medical Council in Szczecin for many months. Last year, the Chamber appealed to Donald Tusk and Izabela Leszczyna to make the valuation of dental services for patients more realistic, and to regulate payment for overpaid services performed by dentists.

In 2024, the situation for dentists was the worst in many years.

- Even if the fire of 2024 was extinguished and led to a situation in which some of the overcontracts were paid, the situation is still difficult and will have its consequences. Many surgeries are still counting on the regulation of overcontracts and are making their continued cooperation with the National Health Fund contingent on this. Thus, patients continue to sign up in queues several months ahead, and only children and pain patients can count on prompt assistance under contracts with the National Health Fund. So we have less and less room for prevention, and less and less room for services that are theoretically guaranteed, but in practice are becoming difficult to receive," says Michal Bulsa, president of the Regional Medical Council in Szczecin.

The President of the Regional Medical Council in Szczecin adds that further discussions will be held with the Dental Committee of the ORL in Szczecin later in Q1 2025 on further measures to improve the situation of dentists and patients.

NHF services are there, but there is not always a way to use them

It's worth remembering that every patient is theoretically entitled to a range of dental services every year. Dentists remind us, however, that the matter is complicated for several reasons - starting with the timing of doctors' admissions to the National Health Service by the increasing number of "white spots" on the map of Poland.

- There are counties where finding a dentist on the NHF becomes a challenge. In large cities such as Szczecin this is not yet a problem, but in county towns there are often only a few or sometimes even one clinic left. It's hard to talk about prevention and wide access to the dental services we are entitled to, when there is actually none," says Dr. Katarzyna Kazojć, president of the Dental Service clinic, a health care manager.

Once a year we are entitled to a dental examination with oral hygiene instruction or tartar removal. On top of that, we are entitled to an oral check-up - theoretically - on the National Health Fund three times a year.

Source: OIL in Szczecin