740. SMD calls for unionization

In a short video published on its Facebook page, the Dentists Union (SMD) calls for the registration of professionals in the sector. 

With the slogan “Together we are stronger”, the SMD intends to capture the attention of dentists for an active participation in the sector. For those interested, the SMD provides a Registration Form with the union. 

The SMD has been very active in its actions with the holding of a webinar on “labor relations in dentistry” and a meeting with the ADSE on the “Agreed Regime of the ADSE provider network and within the scope of the Regime”. 

More recently, the union's actions included the holding of the Odonto Summit where “The State of the Class” was debated and the presentation of a complaint to the Ombudsman about the “contractual illegalities of Dentists in the National Health Service”. 

dentalpro 

739. PORTUGAL IS NOT JUST LISBON: Free oral health for children and young people

Since it opened two years ago on Avenida Almirante Reis, SOL – Saúde Oral in Lisbon, a service of Santa Casa da Misericórdia, has already attended to more than 9,000 people of 38 nationalities and carried out 40,000 free consultations.

Are you between 0 and 18 years old and need to go to the dentist? If you live in the capital, you have access to the free services of SOL – Saúde Oral em Lisboa, an equipment of Misericórdia de Lisboa whose main objective is to prevent the oral health of children and young people.

To register for the various types of consultations, simply present your identification document and confirm your place of residence and age.

According to André Brandão de Almeida, coordinator and clinical director of SOL, the work developed over these two years has been more in the context of treatment than prevention. The objective is to change this reality, that is, to make the response increasingly involve prevention, early treatment and changes in habits.

One of the most recent studies and projects developed by SOL, on eating habits during the period of confinement, reveals that children ate more sugary products and more fresh fruit than usual. Another conclusion: during the time they stayed at home, the children changed the frequency with which they brushed their teeth.

SIC Notícias

* * *

Santa Casa da Misericórdia has gambling recipes nationwide. Isn't it ALSO YOUR OBLIGATION to provide the same oral health support service to all children nationwide, without discriminating where they live?

 

738. President of dentists warns of calamitous oral health cases in the country: there are young people aged between 25 and 30 who no longer have any teeth in their mouths

 

Three out of ten people in Portugal do not have access to oral health, warned the president of dentists today, reporting "calamitous" cases such as 25-year-olds without any teeth and elderly people who have never entered an office. Over the course of four days, Miguel Pavão evaluated the conditions of dentists who work in various health units of the five Regional Health Administrations (ARS) in the country, in an itinerary that ended today with a visit to the Damaia Health Center, municipality of Amadora, district of Lisbon.

At the health centre, where the president of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley ARS, Luís Pisco, was present, the chairman of the Portuguese Dental Association (OMD) took stock of the "Dental Medicine in the SNS" roadmap, starting by alerting that the goal of the "Oral Health for All Project" for 2020 has not been met. The goal was for all health centers to have the possibility of having a dentist, but in 2021 the OMD "went to the field, traveled around the country, and realized that this design is to be fulfilled", Miguel Pavão told the Lusa agency. Only 40% of the territory is covered in terms of dental medical assistance, he pointed out, justifying that, of the 278 planned health centers, only 132 are operating with a dental office.

During the tour, Miguel Pavão observed situations of "very calamitous oral health": "There are young people between 25 and 30 years old who no longer have any teeth in their mouths. It is worrying these days to witness this reality". On the other hand, in the countryside, there are "very old people" who have never had the opportunity to go to the dentist, he said, arguing that this "is an opportunity" to finally have access to dentistry. However, he defended, this response needs to be complemented with the part of oral rehabilitation, which involves people being able to put on dental prostheses, a possibility that the OMD will present to the Government, through public-private partnerships.

Miguel Pavão explained that dentists, who have a network of private providers throughout the country, can provide this service in "a shared way, either by the user or by the budget of the Ministry of Health". He also said that during the script he found "a major discrepancy" between the ARS, and that "there is no truly grounded and oriented strategy for dentistry".

The chairman said that the Center was the region where he saw "a lot of deficit and a lot of difficulty regarding the issue of oral health", but he noted that "it is not good" to compare who "goes more advanced". But he said there are "good examples" that could be replicated: "In Lisbon and Castelo Branco I saw oral health units created that have to be a precursor example of what will be scaled, disseminated and disseminated so that dentistry is a vigorous reality and a capable response that the Portuguese can trust". "Dentists have a very important private service network, there are co-payments and models that are in place and there are others that can be created, but this answer in the SNS does not duplicate the answer, because 30% of the Portuguese population do not have care and still do not has access to the dentist", creased. This is "a socially disadvantaged population", which covers 2.3 million Portuguese who need oral health support, which "is fundamental for social inclusion and employability", he said, considering that this "is a cause national. Present at the visit, Inês Monteiro Filipe, a dentist in a public health unit, and who is part of the regional group of Oral Health of ARSLVT, defended that it is necessary to guarantee equity of access to the population. "We have municipalities with a high population density and with a dentist and we have municipalities with a smaller population density with a dentist as well and, therefore, it does not guarantee equity of access", he stressed. According to the dentist, the medium and long-term project is to increase the capacity of Dentistry in these municipalities to reach a time when there is no family dentist, but "a dentist for most of the population that has this need". Currently, he said, "we have 37 offices already set up in 26 municipalities, there are 52 in ARSLVT, and until the end of this month,we expect the opening of 12 more and by the end of the year the opening, if not all, of most".

HN // HB

SAPO

737. Pilot projects of dentists in health centers fail to set targets

The Order of Dentists (OMD) lamented the government's inaction, before the pilot projects to include dentists in health centers. In a statement, the order informs that the projects mark five years without the defined goals are being fulfilled.

The main objective of having at least one dentist in all clusters of health centers is far from reaching and the whole process is stopped from the beginning of the pandemic, it can read in the news published on the OMD website.

The government has released this project for five years to begin to fill a serious failure in the National Health Service that 40 years ago left out of dental medicine. The pilot project was created to give the most disadvantaged population, with a range of restricted treatments.

The president of OMD, Miguel Pavão, considers that the government pilot project fails in virtually the entire line and defrauds the expectations of patients and professionals. In five years, nothing has changed. Continues to be a pilot project, only for those who have great economic shortage and although to welcome the number of treatments and interventions already carried out, they have surely changed the lives of patients, the truth is that limitations continue to be huge.

With regard to the situation of dentists who are part of the pilot project, Bastonario denounces the precarious conditions in which they work. Most are contracted by companies, through agreements to provide 12-month services, without holiday subsidy or Christmas, without the right to support in unemployment and without any chance of being integrated into the staff.

Miguel Peacão further recalls that there is a specific career for dental medicine in the National Health Service, approved by the Ministry of Health, but it has been waiting for the Ministry of Finance for years. An unacceptable situation that leaves doctors dentists without possibility of making career in the National Health Service as other health professionals.

For the OMD Bash is urgent to look at this pilot project and make it definitive, in five years there was time to know how to do it. It is necessary to ensure dentists in all health centers, implementing the career of dental medicine in the National Health Service, hiring dentists without a term contract, to end the turnover of professionals, extend the concept of economic shortness to cover more population and increase the number of treatments available, possibly using a convention with the private sector.

dentalpro 

736. Private education students are part of the dental check program

According to an order by the Deputy Secretary of State and Health, António Lacerda Sales, published in Diário da República this Monday (May 24), the National Program for the Promotion of Oral Health (PNPSO) now covers all children and young people aged between 7 and 18 years, regardless of the school or institution they attend, as well as a new age group, referring to children who are four years old.
This measure is a positive sign, which demonstrates the Government's will to reverse the inequity that has existed since the creation of the dental check, said Miguel Pavão, president of the OMD. This decision has been demanded by the Order of Dentists over the past few months, which defends a deep restructuring of the program, not only in terms of universal access, but also investment in the preventive component, they say on its website.
For Miguel Pavão, this could be the starting point for reversing and reformulating a program that, since 2008, has wasted more than two million dental checks. The president believes that the dental check should be more preventive and focused on health literacy and behavioral change.
As the OMD advances, Miguel Pavão warns that it is equally urgent to restore the value of checks (which were cut during the troika period and, however, were not replaced) and update them, in order to respond to the increase in costs incurred by dentists and to correspond to the valorization of the medical act.
Order No. 5201/202 defines the update of the PNPSO for the period 2021-2025, which aims to continue the strategies that have been implemented in the context of health promotion, prevention and early treatment of oral diseases. In the case of four-year-old children, referral for oral hygiene consultations in primary health care units is assigned, or up to two dentist checks are assigned. As for the other age groups, access is maintained via the school context.
The updating of the program also foresees, according to the legislation, the reinforcement of actions to promote health and literacy in oral health, carried out by family health teams in pregnancy surveillance, child and youth health and general and family medicine consultations carried out by school health teams, in kindergartens, schools and institutions in the area covered by the health center cluster.

Dental pro

735. Madeira will allow a career in dentistry in the public health service

The Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM) approved, in plenary, the creation of a career in dentistry in the national health service of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (SESARAM).

Miguel Pavão, President of the Order of Dentists (OMD), traveled to Funchal to attend what he considers to be “a historic day for dentistry in our country, as it is the first time that dentists are part of a public service they start to have a career, like other state employees. It is a milestone in our profession and the Autonomous Region of Madeira is the first to take this step”.

In the meeting with the regional secretary of Health, the chairman of the OMD thanked the commitment of the Regional Government, stressing that “today the RAM did justice to a gap in the National Health Service and the RAM provides an example that the integration of dentists is viable and is required. We hope that this is a starting point for the Autonomous Region of the Azores and the Continent to follow this example very soon”.

The Secretary of Health and Civil Protection, Pedro Ramos, highlighted the “important and historic moment” of this approval, which “reveals the pioneering spirit of the Regional Health Service and the respect of the Region for our professionals”.

Fabião Castro Silva, OMD representative in RAM, said “it is with great pride that I see Madeira taking this step, which is so significant for our profession. It is a step that completes the full integration of dentistry in SESARAM”.

The new career in dentistry will cover all dentists working in the health centers of Madeira and Porto Santo, and at the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital, in Funchal. 

dentalpro

734. More than two million dental checks remained unused in the last twelve years

Since the launch of the National Program for the Promotion of Oral Health, more than seven million dental checks have been issued, but only five million have been used, reports Jornal de Notícias. The Order of Dentists wants to reformulate the program and the Government will carry out an audit. The dental check usage rate is around 70%, but it has been falling for the past five years.

3.8 million users have already been assisted, especially children and young people up to 18 years of age, but also pregnant women in a total of 20 million treatments. The Government has planned an audit of the program later this year, which has not made any progress due to the pandemic. The Ministry of Health informs that the audit aims to confirm that all treatments paid for by the dental check were actually carried out.

The Order of Dentists argues that the audit should go further to understand if the investment made had an impact and produced results in the oral health of the population and if there were changes in behavior. Heard by JN, the President of the Order asks for a reformulation of the program that he considers to be poorly built from scratch. In statements to the TSF, the president of the Order of Dentists wants to understand what happened to the two million dentist checks that have not been used in the last 12 years. Miguel Pavão argues that an audit is needed to understand what happened.

Miguel Pavão argues that the audit is necessary, to understand if the investment made in the last 12 years had an impact on the oral health of the Portuguese. For the president, the program should bet more on prevention than on treatment and review values, since prices are not updated since the troika, when it went from 40 to 35 euros.

TSF 

733. dental clinics on facebook

 

“We live in the digital age, so our life is increasingly made in cyberspace. As such, social networks occupy a central place in the daily lives of most people, companies and organizations, as they function as a means of communication with the world and as a vehicle for transmitting information and knowledge”.

Dentist António Faria, from Clínica Médica Jardim, referred to Facebook in this way, when he was asked to give testimony about the strategy used by his clinic regarding presence in the virtual world. There are many other opinions worth reading in this issue. From dentists to clinic owners to marketing directors, almost everyone believes in a premise: new behaviors and consumption habits associated with generations born in the digital age are imposed.

Generation Millennials (born in the 1980s and 1990s) and Generation Z (digital natives) value online commenting, compare prices, appreciate experience over ownership, grew up in an environment of instability, and saw the downfall of major financial institutions. Hence the importance of credible and valuable content. We know that, often, before visiting the clinic or physical store, people search the site and evaluate the content and comments on social networks.

As João Lemos Diogo, marketing director of the OralMED Saúde group confided in us, “in strategic terms, we believe that potential patients develop digital research pathways about oral health or about dentists and dental brands in particular, before making a decision . In our perspective, there is an eminently digital patient-journey, and increasingly omnichannel, which can have different causes and which extends beyond the post-treatment phase. Knowing this mapping of research and behavior on the part of patients, we actively develop specific content for each of these stages”.

That said, a good strategy for managing social media is extremely important for anyone who wants to succeed in the future (and in the present!). And, as Facebook (FB) is one of the most used social networks in the world, DentalPro decided to carry out an exhaustive study on the presence of dental clinics on this platform. We restricted our analysis to the year 2020, mainly because we realized that the Covid-19 pandemic gave a new importance to the digital, both for clinics and companies to maintain direct contact with patients and clients, and as a privileged place for professional and commercial interactions.

Medicinadentária

732. Net empregos: Job offers (dentists)

 Link: https://www.net-empregos.com/dentistas/

* * *

 

 

731. Impact of pandemic on dental check is worrying

From January to July this year, according to data from the Transparency Portal, less than 99,160 dental checks were issued and 108,029 less were used. Likewise, within the scope of the Early Oral Cancer Intervention Project (PIPCO) there were 2,343 fewer checks issued and 6,907 less used in that period.

A scenario that reveals that the impact of the pandemic affected not only private practice, but also, “and in a worrying way”, the National Oral Health Promotion Program (PNPSO), better known as a dental check. For the president of the OMD, this area needs “a recovery plan”, which involves implementing “different models” so that the program reaches effectively vulnerable groups of the population.

Speaking to RTP, Miguel Pavão suggests the possibility for the Directorate-General for Health to issue dental checks in an online format, noting that we are about a month from the end of the use of this module.

The president argues that the effects of the pandemic in the sector "require a deep reflection on the program and are an opportunity to propose new solutions and changes in oral health programs". And he leaves the warning: "if nothing is done, there is a risk of losing the oral health gains achieved in recent years".

Dental PRO 

730. AIMD sends letter to Cristina Ferreira, Medicare ambassador

 

The Independent Association of Dentists (AIMD) sent the following letter to Cristina Ferreira, with a view to her partnership with Medicare:

Exma. Ms. Cristina Ferreira, Ambassador for Medicare,

The Independent Association of Dentists (AIMD) was born under the pressing need to fight for professional dignity and valorization of Dentistry. One of its action plans is to expose the subterfuge of insurers and health plans, constituting representation and spokesperson in the dialogue and negotiation with these entities, and striving for the implementation of representatives in their medical councils with the title of dentists.

In our understanding and that of all colleagues, Medicare, the health plan that you represent through the position of ambassador, induces the practice of dumping in oral health. A health plan that offers its customers the possibility of carrying out free medical acts and others below cost is a dishonest and defrauding practice. Did you know that Medicare offers its customers 20 dental acts and / or treatments? We calculate that it is of your knowledge, seen so vehemently advertising to which it is directly associated.

Since healthcare professionals are not paid for these medical acts, namely through Medicare reimbursement, how do you expect clinics to carry out these medical acts without prejudice to operating and material costs? How do you expect health professionals to be paid for their work? So that this point is not too abstract, we exemplify one of Medicare's free medical acts and the cost of material involved: Monoradicular tooth extraction (“tooth extraction”); cost of running the clinic (eg electricity, water); user protection material (eg surgical cloth or bib); compresses, hemostatic sponges; chemical and thermal conditioning and sterilization of the material; dentist working time,dental assistant and other clinical staff.

Are you aware that the Code of Ethics of the Portuguese Dental Association prohibits the carrying out of free medical acts? We now cite Article 39 of the same: “1- Dental medicine is by nature an activity with inherent costs, for which pecuniary consideration is freely fixed, and free professional acts cannot be practiced in a generalized or regular manner, except when covered by the legal regime of volunteering and when the rules of this Code and the OMD Statute are respected ”.

What we intend to bring to your attention is that you are an ambassador and publicize a health plan that violates the deontology of Dental Medicine and promotes the economy of scale associated with the Health area. It is not possible for health professionals to practice free and have no detriment to their livelihood. Basically, you are representing and advertising a health plan that induces the exploitation of dentists and contributes to your precarious work.

Did you know that dentists turned to the Food Bank against Hunger? Are you aware of Medicare's numerous policyholder complaints? Do you know that in the Complaint Portal, in the last twelve months, there have been almost a thousand complaints submitted against Medicare, namely for contractual irregularities and fraud?

Through a news item published in the magazine “Vidas”, it came to our attention that Medicare presented the Lady with a 2018 Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid, for its partnership with this entity. To make it clear, this asset, which now belongs to its alleged fleet, is the symbol of exploration in Health. For dentists, Medicare and any health plan that promotes the practice of dumping are one of the cancers in the Health area Is this the public image that Ms. Cristina Ferreira wants to be associated with? We leave you with this appeal: ask yourself if you see yourself in what Medicare stands for; if you would like to work and not be paid for your work, and still have a loss. Not everything is worth in life.

6 July, 2020

dentalpro

 

729. One third of beneficiaries did not use dental check in 2019

Of the 312 thousand people who received the dental check, 106 thousand did not use the voucher, advances the newspaper Público.

In 2019, 33.8% of the beneficiaries of the dental check did not take advantage of this voucher, which covers population groups considered vulnerable (pregnant women, elderly beneficiaries of the social supplement, people with HIV / AIDS and children and young people - 7, 10, 13, 16 and 18 years). The data from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) is the headline in today's edition, January 9, of the newspaper Público. In declarations to the morning, the president of the OMD is dissatisfied with this scenario, but highlights the absolute numbers (number of checks issued and used), in which there is an 80% use of the dental check. Both Ordem and DGS consider this percentage to be high and should remain stable. “We do not expect that there will be a big increase [in the percentage of users], because there are many people who have health insurance or ADSE”, explains Margarida Jordão, from the DGS oral health team, to Público.
OMD and DGS justify the data with the fact that many beneficiaries do not want to change their dentist, especially in the case of children, who are the main group covered by the National Oral Health Promotion Program. Orlando Monteiro da Silva also points out the lack of literacy and the difficulty of transporting children to the offices, in the case of some locations, as reasons for the waste of vouchers. As for the extension to children between two and six years old, proposed by the OMD and which is foreseen in the Government's program, the newspaper reports that there is no scheduled date for its entry into force. “We hope that it will be as soon as possible and that we will not start thinking about it until 2023, creating a working group”, says Orlando Monteiro da Silva.
Questioned by Antena 1 and TSF about the data released today, the president also defends that it is necessary to bet on a greater disclosure of the dental check, even because the need exists. Their non-use often happens because “they either do not want to or do not have knowledge or have other subsystems”, he explains to Antena 1. And he adds to TSF that, in the case of children, “there should be a responsibility of the parents, namely in terms of follow-up, which is to prevent children from having dental caries and other diseases ”.
Orlando Monteiro da Silva suggests reusing unused checks to extend the program to all pregnant women (and not just those accompanied at health centers) and children (and not just those in public education) and greater access for beneficiaries who actually do use of the dental check. Público also takes stock of the presence of dentists in the National Health Service (SNS). Until December 2019, the project, which started in 2016, had 111 dentistry offices in about a third of the 91 municipalities in the country. Therefore, Orlando Monteiro da Silva says, “a dentist for municipalities where there are 400 or 500 thousand inhabitants is far from enough”.
The result, he complains, translates into increasing waiting lists and the precariousness of the professionals, who “are recruited by service providers and only stay a year in the health centers, with all that that represents a loss for themselves and for users ”. Orlando Monteiro da Silva warns of the urgency of approving the creation of the career of dentist in the SNS, which is in the drawer of the Ministry of Finance, after being approved by the Ministry of Health.

Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas

728. PORTUGAL targeting 2020: More than half of young people with dental caries at 18

Click on the image to enlarge

 

NationalOral Health Promotion Program

 

727. Access to supervised dentistry appointments at controlled costs

     Faculty of Dental Medicine, University ofPorto

    University Dental Clinic of the Portuguese Catholic University

    CESPU Dental Medicine Consultations

    Faculty of Dental Medicine, University ofLisbon

    Pedagogical Clinic of FernandoPessoa University

726. complaint portal: from problem to solution

 

https://portaldaqueixa.com/

725. The free oral health clinic for young people up to 18 years old has already opened

CopyRight @ SIC Notícias

724. 10 medical tips to prevent tooth decay

If caries is not treated in a timely manner, it may evolve to the point where endodontic treatment (devitalization) is necessary, or even the extraction of the tooth in question. Contrary to what one might think, to care for teeth and prevent tooth decay it is not enough to brush your teeth, some food care is also necessary, and with instruments for oral hygiene.

However, none of the following tips is valid without periodic visits to the dentist. The following tips can help you prevent cavities:

1. Reduce your sugar consumption

Sugars are the main source of acid production by bacteria responsible for tooth decay. Its reduction helps to prevent tooth decay. Avoid treats whenever possible, and whenever you eat sugars, brush your teeth or rinse your mouth.

2. Use dental floss

The use of wire reduces the formation of interdental plaque, promoting dental and gingival health.

3. Brush your teeth after every meal

Brushing reduces oral biofilm that contains the bacteria responsible for tooth decay. Brushing with fluoride pastes also helps to remineralize teeth.

4. Change brushes at most every 3 months

Brushes normally have a longevity of 3 months or less. If you notice that your brush's bristles are opening before that time, it means it's time to change your brush.

5. Always brush your teeth before bed

Salivation decreases dramatically when we are sleeping, which reduces the remineralizing action of the saliva itself on the teeth, which, caries is the most common oral disease and is triggered essentially by lack of oral hygiene or inadequate oral hygiene. It is also enhanced by factors such as eating habits, lack of fluoride and smoking, together with the presence of food debris increases the action of bacteria responsible for caries.

6. Avoid smoking

Tobacco reduces the immunity of oral flora, which in turn increases the incidence of diseases, including tooth decay

7. Drink lots of water

Fluoridation of community water is an effective and low-cost way to achieve the fluoride exposure necessary to help prevent tooth decay. Studies show that water fluoridation is still effective in reducing tooth decay by 20 to 40%. Fluorine is a mineral that can occur naturally in sources of drinking water - oceans, lakes, rivers and groundwater. Comprehensive research has shown that optimal fluoride levels not only reduce tooth decay in children and adults, but also help to repair cavities in the early stages.

On the other hand, water intake contributes to increase salivation, balancing the PH in the mouth, which prevents the proliferation of bacteria.

8. Attention to bruxism

Bruxism (clenching or gnashing of the teeth) can cause small cracks or wear on the teeth, conducive to the accumulation of bacteria responsible for the development of caries. Try to diagnose and resolve bruxism problems.

9. Clean your tongue

The tongue is an area of ​​bacterial accumulation that is often overlooked in hygiene. Use language-specific cleaners

10. Visit your dentist regularly

Only a dentist will know how to diagnose caries lesions early and act accordingly. Only this healthcare professional will be able to do professional cleanings that guarantee the removal of all accumulated dental plaque.

The advice is from the dentist José Afonso Teixeira.

Lifestyle sapo

723. APOMED: There are professionals in health centers whose careers and daily clinical practice are incompatible under the law

The Portuguese Association of Public Service Dentists (APOMED-SP), recently constituted, says that in its opinion it should not be considered that there are dentists in Health Centers.
The association thus accuses the Government of having placed in the Health Centers, within the scope of the pilot project that was created in 2015 to offer medical consultations in the SNS, senior technicians of the general career, graduates or masters in Dentistry and, therefore, duly qualified for this clinical practice, but whose career and daily clinical practice are incompatible under the law.

In a note sent to the newsrooms, which summarizes the association's management meeting that took place last January 16 to take stock of oral health in Portugal, APOMED-SP underlines that in the opinion of APOMED-SP (…) it should not be considered that there are dentists in Health Centers (…) There are still service providers, with green receipts, placed in Health Centers by private companies that hire them. In accordance with Law No. 63/2013 of 27 August and with Article 12 of Law 7/2009 of 14 September, these contracts are based on false green receipts: they do not work at their own location, but in a place that belongs to someone else, where the company sends them to present; they use equipment and other materials that do not belong to them; are required to attend attendance; have goals to fulfill, set by the company or by the Health Services; they receive a fixed monthly salary, which may differ from company to company or even depending on the place of work.
The association representing public service dentists also says that in order to standardize procedures, rights and duties, there is an urgent need to approve the special dental medicine career to the Ministry of Finance, taking into account that that career was approved at the Ministry of Health in November 2017 and since then no further progress is known in this process.

Dentists without assistants
APOMED-SP also denounces several issues related to safety and quality in the provision of oral health care in the National Health Service, referring that currently, there are doctors who work without an assistant (they work, therefore, alone). Thus, when carrying out the treatments that fall within their competence, they cannot guarantee the required quality. More: there are situations in which the safety of the user and the professional can be seriously compromised, in the absence of an assistant. The problem has already been reported on several occasions to higher levels, without taking any steps towards its resolution.
Some dentists do not have access to the patient's clinical file properly. Thus, they have more difficulty in identifying all the associated pathology, nor what is the current therapy. Many users do not know how to explain to the dentist neither of those two situations. It is easy, therefore, in these cases, to make gross errors in clinical terms by limiting access to computer systems, under the same conditions as other doctors, the association also accuses.
Furthermore, the association reveals that the referral of patients to the dentist is mandatorily done by the family doctor, sometimes it happens in open consultation and not by the family doctor. If the dentist needs to refer a patient to the Hospital Services, namely to the Stomatology or Maxillofacial Surgery Service, he must ask the family doctor again (when available) to do so. This situation is devoid of nexus and the most elementary common sense.
It is not understood that the dentist cannot refer you to the hospital. Likewise, it is not perceived that the dentist cannot refer patients to the so-called dental check program, and this referral is in charge of other health professionals, some without specific preparation in oral health and preventing other professionals with health training. oral (for example, Oral Hygienists) can do it directly for SO-CSP (sometimes even following their activities in School Health), he concludes. 

SAÚDE ORAL so 

722. Private and dental medicine in Portugal: a good business

In 2017, Novo Banco assumed losses of around 500 million euros with the credits of eight debtors. Among them is the Maló Group.
According to the online economic newspaper Eco, citing Correio da Manhã, among the business groups that most required the financial institution to set up to cover potential losses are Promovalor, Grupo Lena and SCG, Prebuild, MSF Group, Tiner Group and Moniz da Maia Group. In the oral health area, the highlight goes to the Maló Group.
Debts reach high values. With the provisioning of around 500 million, the eight clients represent 24% of potential losses of 2,057 million euros assumed by Novo Banco in 2017.

dentalPRO

721. Castêlo da Maia Health Unit will have dental care office

A protocol was signed on December 17 between the Municipality of Maia and ARS Norte, which will allow the opening of two dental care offices in Maia, one of them in the Health Unit of Castêlo da Maia.
The integration of dentists in primary health care at the national level and the consequent widening of the scope of the provision of oral health consultations in the SNS deserved the full availability of the Municipality of Maia, which considers it “an area where the fragility of the response of the public health service is notorious ”.
The municipality of Maia assumed the responsibility of providing the stomatology equipment and material, supporting the estimated costs of 90 thousand euros, thus enabling the installation of an Oral Health valence at the Castêlo da Maia Health Center.

Notícias Maia

720. Dentists from the National Health Service (SNS) formed an association

The Portuguese Association of Dentists of Public Services - APOMED-SP is the new autonomous organization, established on December 14.
Dentists José Frias Bulhosa, Manuel Nunes and Ricardo Viveiros Cabral signed the act of constitution of the new association. Provisionally, the headquarters had been installed in the city of Castelo Branco.
APOMED-SP aims to represent all dentists working in Portuguese public services and aims to contribute to the support to the competent entities, in order to plan and implement strategies for various projects in the field of public dentistry, in the Continent and in the Autonomous regions.
The first annual meeting of the new association is scheduled for the end of May 2019, in Matosinhos.
Contact:
apomed.sp@gmail.com

dentalPRO

719. Oral health for children and young people: only 3 out of 10 children

In total, 30.6% of the students covered by the PNSE were targeted for interventions in the area of Body Hygiene / Oral Health, with the Algarve region having the highest percentage (36.6%).
In total, 61.6% of the children who attended preschool and 50.6% of the children who attended the 1st cycle of basic education were targeted in this area, highlighting the Northern region where 74.1%. of Preschool students and 58.7% of 1st cycle students were targeted for Body Hygiene / Oral Health interventions.
Only 5.1% of the students of the PNSE students who attended the Secondary School were targeted in this area, with this percentage being less than 7.0% in any region and particularly low in the Alentejo region (0.4% ).
Gerações mais saudáveis

* * *

The National Health Council, which is part of the Order of Dentists (Orlando Monteiro da Silva), concluded that in the school year 2016/17, only 3 out of 10 children and young people were covered by body hygiene actions (???) and oral health; thus, 7 out of 10 children were excluded from those actions.When tens of millions of euros of Portuguese taxes are spent annually to train dentists, stomatologists and oral hygienists, millions of Portuguese children and young people have no access to oral health.
Shameful? Ridiculous? Bunch of corrupt politicians?

718. Government ensures career creation for dentists in SNS is not forgotten

The Secretary of State for Health, Raquel Duarte, assured this Friday that the creation of a dentist career in the National Health Service (S.N.S.) is not entirely forgotten, but under review. There is a strong commitment to maintain the oral health of the population in the context of the SNS that is not entirely forgotten, but under consideration, said the official, at the official opening of the 27th Congress of the Order of Dentists, in Matosinhos, district from Porto.

Saying not to be unaware of the expectation of these health professionals, Raquel Duarte stressed that the Ministry of Health, which underwent refurbishment, maintains the firm conviction that it is essential to value them. In addition to this issue, the new Secretary of State said that the project to integrate dental medicine in the SNS, expanding the number of health centers with oral health care is to continue and increase.

The placement of dentists in primary health care began with the current government, first through pilot projects that were progressively expanded. We want to expand the number of health centers with dentists so we can have coverage across the country, he explained.
Before the Secretary of State's intervention, the president of the Order of Dentists, Orlando Monteiro da Silva, insisted on the need to move forward with the creation of a career for dentists in the SNS, noting that the process has already been approved by the Ministry of Health, but has been waiting for almost a year for finance. It is fundamental and necessary, in the interest of quality, to create a career in dentistry, as it is a specific profession, he said.

The Order has long claimed an adequate status for these professionals, enshrined in a career. The congress, which began on Thursday and ends on Saturday, has on the table, in addition to socio-professional issues, topics such as implantology, endodontics or periodontology. Simultaneously with the congress is the Expodentária, the largest oral health fair in the Iberian Peninsula, which, in this edition, counts on the presence of 139 exhibitors, distributed by 507 booths.

09.11.2018

Correio da Manhã

  

717. Objectives for the promotion of oral health in primary health care, within the framework of the review of the National Oral Health Promotion Program

1 - Considering the results achieved with the pilot experiments carried out under Order No. 8591-B / 2016, published in the Diário da República, 2nd Series, No. 125, of July 1, 2016, are defined The following objectives for the promotion of oral health in primary health care, within the framework of the revision of the National Program for the Promotion of Oral Health, orienting the strategic action of the National Health Service (S.N.S.) in the oral health area to 2020 to :
(a) Promote equity in oral health care provision by increasing and improving oral health coverage in primary care through the implementation of oral health consultations in all municipalities of the country;
(b) ensure adequate access to oral health responses in primary health care based on referral by the family doctor and the performance of clinically necessary treatments by dentists, excluding strictly aesthetic interventions;
c) Develop an integrated delivery of oral health care in primary health care, fostering the articulation of dentists, general and family doctors, public health doctors, oral hygienists, nutritionists, psychologists. , nurses and other health professionals to promote integration of care in the family health team;
d) To foster the articulation between the oral health team of primary health care with the stomatology services and other hospital specialties, in order to guarantee a simple and effective referral of patients who need hospital care;
e) To develop national, regional and local training activities, according to the needs identified, in order to improve the response to the oral health needs of the population and to make the importance of promoting oral health more visible;
f) To develop actions to promote oral health and prevention of oral cavity diseases, in various contexts, in a continuous manner over time and framed in the promotion of oral health literacy and training, namely through the National School Health Program, the Health Literacy and Care Integration, and the SNS + Proximity initiative;
g) Build partnerships with Municipalities to develop oral health promotion initiatives and projects, with a special focus on primary health care, in line with Local Health Plans;
h) Share good oral health practices implemented by dentists and health professionals working in the oral health field and disseminate experiences and results that translate into effective gains;
(i) promote the proper recording of dentist activity data on primary care in the Oral Health Information System (SISO);
j) Invest in oral health information and knowledge, promoting and encouraging research in Oral Health;
k) Monitor and evaluate the actions developed under the previous paragraphs, using quality indicators that translate into health gains.
2 - The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) shall define the indicators referred to in paragraph k) of the preceding paragraph within 30 days of the entry into force of this Order, including a user satisfaction assessment strand, after Order of Dentists.

3 - The DGS shall review the National Oral Health Promotion Program developing the strategic objectives by 2020 and present it for public discussion within 30 days of the entry into force of this Order.
4 - The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, EPE (SPMS, EPE), adapt and develop SISO to this policy of oral health care in primary health care, as well as elaborate the Oral Health Bulletin, which should be available on the Health Data Platform (PDS) by December 31, 2018.
5 - The entities of the Ministry of Health and the NHS shall pursue the 2020 objectives defined under the terms of this Order and, in order to promote access and equity in the provision of health care, ensure as concrete objectives that:
a) By the end of the first semester of 2019, at least 30% of the municipalities have at least one dental office;
(b) By the end of 2019, at least 60% of municipalities have at least one dental practice, and at least one such response should exist in all health center groupings;
c) By the end of the first half of 2020, all municipalities have at least one dental practice.
6 - The DGS shall, in conjunction with the other entities referred to in the preceding paragraph, namely with the Regional Health Administrations, the Central Administration of the Health System, IP (ACSS, IP), the SPMS, EPE, and the Order of Dentists, a semiannual evaluation of the implementation of the objectives defined in the terms of this order, which should include recommendations, to be published on the NHS portal and on the entity's website, by September 1 and March 1, respectively.
7 - Costs related to the operationalization and monitoring of this strategy are supported by ACSS, I. P.
8 - This Order shall enter into force on the day following its publication.
September 14, 2018. - The Assistant Secretary of State and Health,

Fernando Manuel Ferreira Araújo.

Despacho n.º 8861-A/2018

716. Immigrant dentists do not want to return to Portugal

About 70% of dentists who work abroad do not intend to return to Portugal, according to data from the Dental Medical Association, which warns that the country forms excess professionals and throws them into precariousness and emigration. According to the Order, one in ten Portuguese dentists is working abroad, a total of 1,500 in 11,000 active professionals.
We are not providing security, remuneration and career conditions. What we are offering in Portugal is a great precariousness for these young dentists. And many of them will go abroad, particularly to countries in Europe, said the staff member, Orlando Monteiro da Silva, in an interview with the Lusa agency.

The vast majority of emigrants who do not even want to return to Portugal indicate that they have better working and living conditions abroad. According to the Employability Study, carried out last year and now published, 60% of dentists working in Portugal work in two or more offices and more than half of those who have been trained for less than a decade work in more than four offices.
The Dental Physicians staff member stresses that working conditions are difficult, especially for younger doctors who work long hours, in several offices at the same time and with large journeys, sometimes within an hour or two of the place of residence. Our younger colleagues, especially those with less than 10 years' experience, have a high level of precariousness, low salaries and no career prospects, and this leads them, in particular, to emigration. It is essential that the society and the candidates of the course of Dental Medicine inform themselves about the conditions of employment that they will find and that they undo this idea that the dental medicine is a profession where it is obtained very well. This is not the case for a long time, says Orlando Monteiro da Silva.

To the Government, the president of the Order of Dentists recommends and calls for the reduction of vacancies in the seven courses of Dental Medicine existing in Portugal. It seems obvious to me that faculties have to rethink their offer so that we will not continue to train people to invite them to practice outside of Portugal, says the staff member, noting that every year between 600 and 700 new graduates in dentistry leave the courses.
He argues that this figure should be progressively reduced, at least 10 to 15 percent per year, rather than postgraduate training. Colleges themselves know that they are training dentists or for unemployment or, perhaps even more serious, for underemployment, precariousness. A dental practitioner, as a still liberal profession, can rarely be considered unemployed. He is in a serious situation of underemployment, comments the canon of the Dentists.
Portugal has one dentist doctor per thousand inhabitants, when international recommendations point to a professional for 1500 to 2000 inhabitants.

PÚBLICO  

715. There are already dental clinics in 55 health centers

At the same time as the dentist check distribution program is being extended, another of the Government's promises, which goes on to integrate dentists into primary health care, is slowly advancing - at the end of last year, 55 health centers of the country, they already had dental clinics available. But the Government's goal is more ambitious: by the end of 2019, it is intended that all groups of health centers (ACES) have at least one dentist, according to announced in March the Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Fernando Araújo. This year, he specified, more than half of the [dentists] who are missing will be placed and the rest will start working at the National Health Service (NHS) in the first half of 2019.

By the end of 2017, there were 24 ACES that had dental consultations, less than half of the country's total clusters, in a project that started in the third quarter of 2016, with pilot experiments in 13 Alentejo and Lisbon health centers and Tagus Valley. Last year, this project was extended and, throughout the country, in December, there were dental consultations in 60 oral health offices of 55 health centers. The regions of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (26) and North (22) were the ones with the most oral health offices, followed by Centro (six), Alentejo and Algarve (with three offices each).

Project at an embryonic stage - This project, synthesized by Paulo Melo, president of the general council of the Order of Dentists (OMD), is in an embryonic phase. The health centers have a dentist and a dental assistant, who perform basic treatments, such as tooth extractions, derangements and devitalizations, exemplifies. According to the latest Report on Access to Health Care in SNS Establishments, last year 68,910 thousand consultations were made and 51,386 users referred in primary health care. This innovative project, which is read in the document, will continue to be extended, with the opening of more oral health offices, after the renovation of spaces, purchase of equipment and hiring of new teams (dentists and medical assistants dental surgery).

The Order of Dentists is also involved and there are municipalities that pay for the works and purchase of equipment for some health centers, says Paulo Melo, who assumes that it will be necessary to progress gradually until coverage of the entire country is achieved. As a result of the work that has been developed, the epidemiological situation is improving, highlights the OMD leader, Orlando Monteiro da Silva. If a few years ago the percentage of children with caries at six years was more than 70%, now it is around 50%, exemplifies the canon, satisfied that Portugal is close to achieving some of the goals set in the international recommendations.
But the path is far from complete, he says, noting that a measure that is central to accessing dentistry in public hospitals, where some stomatologists currently exist - the creation of a career as a dentist in the SNS recommended by the group study of the situation. There is still a lack of ministerial endorsement, explains Paulo Melo.

PÚBLICO 

 

714. Oral Health Support Center opened in Lisbon

On 23 April, the non-governmental organization Mundo A Sorrir inaugurated the 3rd Oral Health Support Center (CASO) of the country at the Laura Alves Social Center in Lisbon. The project, in partnership with the Lisbon City Council and the Santo António Parish Council, aims to provide medical-dental treatments and psychosocial support to populations in situations of socio-economic vulnerability, with a view to their social reintegration.
The inauguration session was attended by Miguel Pavão, President of the Direction of the Mundo a Sorrir, Vasco Morgado, President of the Parish Council of Santo António, Cláudia Prazeres, Head of Division for Participation and Citizenship and Nuno Veludo, representing the Councilor Ricardo Robles, of the Municipality of Lisbon. The session was also attended by numerous social partners, supporters and voluntary organizations.

The C.A.S.O. project Lisbon will remain the same as the procedures already implemented in other areas, that is, referrals of users will be carried out through the Parish Council of Santo António and the nearest social institutions that wish to become partners in the project. A service will be available for users and also for employees, and the amount payable per consultation will be defined based on the daily capitation amount. By December, the project aims to reach more than 75 people.
The Oral Health Support Center was created in 2009, in partnership with Santa Casa Misericórdia do Porto, and since then it has performed around 25,000 medical-dental treatments and donated 458 prostheses. In 2015, in partnership with the Municipality of Braga, Mundo A Sorrir opened the second Oral Health Support Center in the country, having already performed more than 14,800 treatments. Now, in 2018 Mundo A Sorrir opens from the third Oral Health Support Center this time in Lisbon.

Address | Centro Social Laura Alves - Calçada Moinho de Vento 2, 1150-225 Lisboa 

Mundo A Sorrir 

713. smile... always smile

I would like to explain everything that has happened in the European Court of Human Rights, because a lot of people continue to walk around and enjoy life, at the expense of the taxes I pay today, without being responsible for what directly and indirectly caused me and condemned me to unhappiness forever, with no chance of reversibility; I just wish they were going through exactly what I'm going through today.
I hope that there is justice and that those responsible pay in justice exactly the same suffering that they knew and should have avoided and for which they threw me forever; I do not want and I will refuse any monetary compensation - only and I only want them to be punished in the same proportion of suffering that they have offered me for the rest of my life.
Many professional people should have thought at the right time that I also wanted to be properly accepted in interpersonal terms, to marry and to constitute a family ...

Read and open the following texts

Document 1

Because children and young people do not yet have the psychological capacity for discernment to realize when adults are acting negligently. One day I hope that the authorities will do justice where so many have helped many but have always closed me every door. ALL POSSIBLE HELP WILL ALWAYS BE WELCOME

Document 2

Waiting time has expired for replies that never arrived (1 February 2008). I do not give up, this is something I would never do.I move on to a second phase: translate and organize all the consolidated material (for English / French), in particular all the correspondence I had with the official bodies, both local and central. Subsequently I fill in the necessary forms and I will get them to the right of the European Court.For me and for all the children and young people of Portugal. 

Contact via email to provide any kind of help

alves.saudeoral@gmail.com