In 2019, 51% of Italians went to the dentist at least once and 92% paid for the service in full, generating "an outlay of more than 8 billion euros in families".
On the other hand, the amount used for dental care by the National Health Service "is around 85 million euros a year", i.e. the share paid by the National Health Service is just over 1% of the total.
Numbers that make "access dramatically determined by socio-economic conditions rather than by the actual need for assistance".
This was revealed by the document of the Superior Health Council (CSS) "Review of access to dental care in the SSN", which calls for "an expansion of public coverage for dental assistance".
After the significant reduction observed in 2020 due to Covid, the 2021 data "show an immediate recovery to pre-crisis levels".
From dental hygiene to implants, passing through dentures, private spending on the dentist represents, together with that for the purchase of medicines, the main component (21%) of private health expenditure.
Being "largely excluded from public insurance coverage - notes the CSS - access to these treatments is subject to an important barrier to entry": so much so that, in the poorest groups, less than 40% of over 15s had a visit to the dentist compared to over 61% in the wealthiest groups.
On the other hand, "the limited coverage provided by the essential levels of assistance (Lea) provides a safety net for a negligible percentage of the population".
In fact, public dental care consists of around 3.7 million outpatient services, equal to 0.07% of total public health expenditure (127 billion in 2021), with the southern regions seeing a greater share of dental expenses covered by the public.
The CSS proposes various ways to expand the public coverage of dental care, including "an expansion of the criteria and conditions of disbursement provided for by the Lea for access to services".
In this sense, it would be "appropriate to review and integrate the current criteria for identifying the condition of health and social vulnerability".
Finally, the CSS points the finger at "a lack of oral health promotion programs", which means that "few citizens who, despite having the right to do so, are aware of the existence of dental Lea. A greater campaign of communication and awareness of the most fragile categories".
