Dental Care Programmes and Subsidies

17 January 2012

Question No. 105

Name of person: Mrs Lina Chiam

Question

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether there are sufficient programmes in place to promote dental care; and (b) what dental procedures are subsidised at the National Dental Centre and what procedures are not.

Answer

1. In Singapore, we place a strong emphasis on prevention and inculcating good oral hygiene practices from young. The Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) School Dental Service provides free basic dental care for all Singaporean children aged 7 to 18 years old, within the school dental clinics. This includes cleaning, screening and fillings, as well as dental health education, to promote good oral hygiene amongst our students. Subsidised treatment is also availablefor pre-schoolers at HPB’s School Dental Centre.

2. As a result, the oral health status of our 12-year olds, measured by the DMFT index (i.e. a common measure of the number of decayed, missing or filled teeth), is among the best in the world. At 0.6, it is much better than in most OECD countries, including Japan and South Korea – which are at 1.3 and2.1 respectively.¹

3. For adults, HPB works with professional groups and industry partners to promote good oral hygiene through events such as the annual Oral Health Month. HPB has also started a Community Functional Screening Programme for seniors 60 years old and above, to detect early signs of functional decline, including poor oral health, and to institute the appropriate follow-up measures.

4. Mrs Chiam also asked about subsidised dental procedures at the National Dental Centre (NDC). NDC provides the full range of subsidised dental treatment – such as for crowns, bridges, dentures and root canal treatment – to meet the needs of all patients referred to NDC for management. Only procedures deemed cosmetic in nature, such as dental laminates and bleaching services, are not subsidised. Eligible patients who require root canal treatment, crowns and dentures can also receive subsidies for treatment at private dentalclinics under the Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS). Subsidised basic dental care is also available at the polyclinics and at private dental clinics under PCPS.

¹ Source: OECD 2010 statistics