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DENTAL SERVICES
Dental Services in Cyprus are provided by the public and private sector. The vision of the Dental Services of the Ministry of Health is the promotion of oral health in Cyprus with the ultimate goal to help the population maintain natural teeth until very old age. We are targeting to the improvement of the quality of the dental services provided tackling social and geographical inequalities. For this purpose we have set general and specific objectives taking into account the recommendations for Oral Health set by the World Health Organization for the year 2010.
In 2008, forty dentists, thirty-eight dental assistants, eleven dental laboratory technicians and ten persons supportive personnel were employed by the Dental Services of the Ministry of Health (on permanent and temporary basis).
There are 56 dental clinics located in the District Hospitals, Urban and Rural Health Centers Cypruswide offering dental services, and four mobile dental units.
According to the Medium Term Budgeting planning, the main objectives of the 2008-2010 period are:
· Upgrading of the quality of the primary dental care offered by our services for the prevention of decay, periodontal diseases and oral cancer
· Upgrading of the secondary and tertiary dental care provided at hospitals, urban and rural health centres
· Emphasis on programming and coordination with the ultimate goal to efficiently apply the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) within the Dental Services
· Preparation of clinical and administrative guidelines and protocols for the provision of evidence-based dentistry
· Further strengthening of the cooperation with the Cyprus Dental Association
· Strengthening of Continuing Professional Development of the staff
The Dental Services of the Ministry of Health are organized into three activity pillars in order to implement their Strategy: the Dental Public Health Sector (prevention), the Curative Sector and the Sector engaged with Programming, Human Resource Development and European Union issues.
· The curative section offers secondary and tertiary dental care, conservative, surgical and removable prosthetics at the above mentioned clinics
· The preventive section deals with epidemiological surveys, oral health education, prevention of decay and periodontal diseases and school dental care
· The third section deals with the in-service training of the dental and para dental staff, implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), strategic planning, EU issues etc.
We have to stress out that there is a strong correlation between the general health and oral health, so our message is:
A Healthy Mouth means Quality in Life.
There are 56 public dental clinics located in the District Hospitals, Urban and Rural Health Centers Cypruswide offering dental services, and four mobile dental units.
To achieve their goals, the Dental Services of the Ministry of Health have adopted a preventive and a curative strategy. Within this framework, their activities concentrate on the provision of specialized dental care besides the general dental care provided, like oral surgery, paedodontics, removable prosthetics, endodontics and periodontology. Since 1992, a programme of cooperation between the Dental Services of the Ministry of Health and the Cyprus Dental Association has been running, for the provision of secondary dental treatment of children of the 5th grade of elementary schools. The cost of this treatment is covered by the Ministry of Health.
One of the top priorities of the Dental Services is the provision of continuing education for the employees. For this purpose, the staff regularly attends seminars and workshops in Cyprus and Greece.
The Director of Dental Services participates in the meetings of the Council of European Chief Dental Officers where there is an exchange of ideas and best practices.
Three public dental officers are members of the Cyprus Dental Council, the competent authority for the recognition of professional qualifications of dentists. Another public dentist and a dental technician are members of the Cyprus Dental Technicians Council. The Dental Services contribute with the support of the Cyprus Legal Service to the harmonization of the relevant Cyprus´ legislation with the EU Acquis.
Initiatives and future actions
· Reengineering of the current structure of the Dental Services in relation to the introduction of the new General Health Insurance System
· Further development of Hospital Dentistry
· Preparation of a legal framework for dental clinics
· Closer cooperation with the private dental sector
· Average cost estimation of the public dental services with the support of the Ministry of Health so as to be able to proceed to an efficient resource allocation |
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