• Health Health is open to including the unemployed and those over 65 years of age in the Oral Health Plan

The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has been open to expanding the Oral Health Plan to include the unemployed and people over 65 years of age. Today, this program includes care for pregnant women, children up to 14 years of age, head and neck cancer patients, adults with intellectual disabilities and people with neuromuscular diseases.

What have been Mónica García's statements?

"As oral health is now more of a pyrrhic part of public health, what we want is for it to be an important part of the portfolio of services. The other day I was talking about the over-65s, but I can also talk about the unemployed or the people who are most vulnerable," said García, in a statement to the media made this past Monday, before an informative breakfast that took place at the Ateneo de Madrid with the secretary general of CCOO, Unai Sordo.

Who is covered by the current Oral Health Plan?

On 30 October, the Council of Ministers approved a transfer of 68 million euros to the autonomous communities to comply with the Oral Health Plan already in place, and to improve benefits for 13 million citizens.

With this second year,coverage was extended to the age groups of 0 to 14 years, groups with disabilities and those diagnosed with cancer. The plan already included preventive actions (mouth cleaning) and specific care for pregnant women.

What is the current coverage?

According to the Ministry of Health, the Plan includes the following actions.

The following actions will be offered to the entire population:

  • (a) Information and dissemination, from a life-course perspective, on the basic hygienic and dietary measures necessary to achieve and maintain oral health, together with individualized health instructions and recommendations.
  • (b) Dental advice.
  • c) Treatment of acute dental processes, understood as infectious and/or inflammatory processes affecting the oral area, osseodental trauma, wounds and lesions in the oral mucosa, as well as acute pathology of the temporomandibular joint.
  • d) Pharmacological treatment of the oral pathology that requires it.
  • e) Extractions, surgical extractions and minor surgery of the oral cavity.
  • f) Early detection of premalignant lesions and, where appropriate, biopsy of mucosal lesions.
  • (g) Health education for self-examination of the oral cavity in the search for lesions suspected of malignancy.

With regard to children and young people from birth to 14 years of age, inclusive, the following actions will be provided, when indicated:

  • a) Periodic review of the state of oral health, which will include radiographic examination when indicated.
  • (b) Determination of the individual risk of caries, especially in the first two years of life, in order to establish the frequency of check-ups and preventive measures aimed at reducing this risk.
  • c) Both in temporary and permanent dentition: Application of remineralizing, antiseptic and/or desensitizing substances. Sealing of pits and fissures. Tartrectomy.
  • d) In the case of the temporary dentition, minimal intervention actions and measures aimed at slowing down the process of caries injury will be applied. e) For the entire permanent dentition, fillings are included in lesions that do not associate irreversible pulp damage caused by caries, trauma or any disease that affects the structure of the tooth.
  • f) In the case of trauma injuries to the definitive incisor and canine group, the following are also included: Relocation and stabilization of the affected teeth of the anterior group. Splinting of the anterior group and suturing of soft tissues, if necessary. Pulp treatments, if necessary.

Pregnant women will be offered the following performances:

  • a) Tips to preserve the oral health of the future baby.
  • b) Clinical examination to determine your oral health status and your risk of both caries and periodontal disease.
  • c) When indicated, tartrectomy and application of remineralizing, antiseptic and/or desensitizing substances. Pregnant women should make at least one dental visit, preferably during the first trimester of pregnancy, and may be referred to oral health teams or units by health personnel or at the user's request.

As for persons over 14 years of age with intellectual disabilityor with a disability limiting the mobility of the upper limbs, who prevent the correct self-care necessary to achieve and maintain adequate oral health, they will be provided, when indicated by the risk that it may entail for the development of oral diseases, the conservative dentistry treatments contemplated in this portfolio.

In the case of people who have severe behavioural alterations that can be objectified and who are not able to maintain the necessary self-control that allows adequate attention to their oral health, the provision of services will be guaranteed, depending on the group to which they belong, through the corresponding sedative treatment or general anaesthesia, in accordance with the protocols established with the hospital care teams.

Finally, people diagnosed with oncological processes in the cervicofacial territory will be offered the following actions:

  • a) Clinical examination to determine the state of oral health and the preventive and therapeutic needs that may be necessary for the prevention of oral lesions derived from radiation cancer treatment or chemotherapy.
  • b) When indicated, application of remineralizing, antiseptic and/or desensitizing substances, prior to tartrectomy if necessary for the above treatment to be effective.

What is excluded from coverage?

The following treatments are considered excluded from oral health care:

  • a) Definitive fillings and pulp treatments in the temporary dentition.
  • b) Pulp treatments in the permanent dentition, except those indicated.
  • (c) Orthodontic treatments.
  • d) Extraction of healthy teeth by exclusively orthodontic indication.
  • e) Treatments for exclusively aesthetic purposes.
  • f) Dental implants and dental prostheses, except those included in the portfolio of common orthoprosthetic services.
  • g) Carrying out complementary tests for purposes other than the benefits contemplated as eligible for financing by the National Health System in this regulation.