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. 

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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/

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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

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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

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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