Getting a dentist appointment has become a luxury in the Lot! In this very rural department with 58 dentists per 100,000 inhabitants, a rate lower than the national average, the opening of the new dental center in Cahors on April 17 turned into a grab fair. One month after its launch, the secretariat receives 500 to 1,000 calls a day from patients desperate to seek treatment. Despite the investment of the two dentists, the dental office struggles to satisfy everyone, which does not only create gnashing of teeth.
"We knew there was a strong demand but I did not think we would be so overwhelmed and the situation remains complicated," says Marc Majorel, president of the Mutualité française du Lot, a federation of 16 mutual health insurance companies, at the initiative of this firm. There are many newcomers, young workers who have a problem accessing care and, despite the appointment of 1,500 patients, there are dissatisfied but we are doing our best. We even had calls from the north of the Lot and Corrèze. »
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On the first day, turned away patients even banged on the window of the office, forcing dentists to call the police. The firm, whose cost amounts to 1.2 million euros, with a neighboring building dedicated to hearing and optics, now closes its doors, by appointment. A third dentist should soon arrive to reinforce the Cahors practice and a new practice is due to open its doors in Figeac, in the north of the Lot, in early 2024.