About 45,000 children under the age of six can benefit from the next year of free dental assistance in the region. They will be added to the around 100,000 that already have this service, which is offered until the 15th birthday.
The Extremadura Health Service plans to extend the Infant Dental Assistance Plan of Extremadura (Padiex) as of January 1 to influence prevention efforts.
The Extremadura Health Service plans to extend the Infant Dental Assistance Plan of Extremadura (Padiex) as of January 1 to influence prevention efforts.
The Padiex offers dental assistance to children between the ages of 6 and 15 who are entitled to healthcare under the SES. It
was born in 2005 and its implementation was gradual, starting with
children of 6 and 7 years until in 2013 it was applied to all ages
contemplated in the plan.
The financing is
public and the provision of services is mixed, shared between the 32
dentists of the public system and the nearly 300 dentists in the private
sector who have the corresponding SES authorization. In this case, the dentists receive a payment for each patient that they attend in their consultations.
The Padiex includes two types of treatments. Basic,
which includes reviews (at the discretion of the professional but at
least one a year), assistance in dental emergencies (mainly trauma),
extractions, oral health education (brushing and cleaning techniques)
and preventive treatments (fluoridation and placement of sealants, among other techniques). But
it also includes special actions, such as attention to incisors and
canines in case of trauma and endodontics (destruction of the nerve), as
well as the reconstructions that the latter entail.
Only orthodontics,
prostheses and treatments of temporary or milk parts (except for
extractions and emergency care) are left out of the program. According
to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics, as of
January 1 of this year there were 105,000 minors between the ages of 5
and 14 in the region, who would be part of the plan's target group in
2017, since care begins in the exercise in which they are met 6. Below that age there were 45,000, which will be those who join the program in 2018.
The SES indicates that the extension of the service will be assumed from the public network. That
is, the 45,000 children would be served by the 32 dentists, although in
practice it is expected to reach mainly children of 5 and 4 years. A large increase in costs is not expected. The budget for the program is 1,980,000 euros.
The extension of the Padiex aims to influence prevention, for which additional attention will be given to education on issues such as healthy habits, oral health and periodic reviews, especially indicated for the little ones. We have to ensure that the treatments carried out in the consultations are more preventive than curative, indicates the SES.
Among other issues, it will try to alleviate the problem of early childhood caries, since it is estimated that 31% of children at five years have decay in the primary dentition.
The extension of the Padiex aims to influence prevention, for which additional attention will be given to education on issues such as healthy habits, oral health and periodic reviews, especially indicated for the little ones. We have to ensure that the treatments carried out in the consultations are more preventive than curative, indicates the SES.
Among other issues, it will try to alleviate the problem of early childhood caries, since it is estimated that 31% of children at five years have decay in the primary dentition.
As indicated by María
Dolores Zapata, director of oral health programs at SES, what is
intended is to educate so that cavities do not appear later. For example, he notes that many parents do not promote brushing between their children until their baby teeth fall. He also points out that the current diet, with lots of sugary products, does not help. We will try to change the chip. Zapata
points out that it will try to reach as many children as possible, for
which pediatricians will be asked during the reviews to take care of the
referral to the dentists.
The
proposal will allow investing in preventive treatments at an early age,
which in the long run will mean savings in more expensive
interventions. As
a result of our good preventive work, the children of our community
should require less and less curative treatments, explains the SES.For professionals the measure is a success. José
Álvarez, dentist of the Ortodental Clinic of Almendralejo, affirms that
Padiex is very beneficial for the oral health of those under 15 years
of age, since it allows access to treatments for people who lack
resources. More serious pathologies are avoided in the adult stage, which in addition to be corrected require more expensive treatments.As shown, Álvarez points out that some molars with very pronounced grooves can be corrected at an early age with sealants. Otherwise, they will be more prone to accumulate dirt, which will lead to plaque formation and later decay. If
they are not treated, it will be necessary to do an endodontics and, in
the long run, you can lose the tooth and require an implant. A small expense at the beginning would have avoided a large outlay at the end.
Regarding the extension
of the plan to children under 6 years of age, José Álvarez points out
that everything that is to promote or inculcate prevention is positive. At
an early age, brushing techniques can be taught more easily to children
and parents, who sometimes do not give importance to the first problems
that arise because they are milk teeth.
