– Young adults mostly have good teeth – NRK Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio

Recently, it became known that the government will give the statutory right to dental care for people between the ages of 21 and 24.

Children and young people up to the age of 20 already have the right to necessary dental care from the public sector.

It is now therefore proposed that the right be extended to so-called young adults.

The deductible will be 25 percent.

– Money in the wrong place

Terje Fredriksen in Porsgrunn is one of several dentists NRK has been in contact with.

He believes the government’s proposal must be characterized as a disc boom.

– I am quite satisfied that they want to spend more money on the dental health sector, but I am less satisfied that they are spending the money in the wrong place.

Fredriksen, who is also a member of the executive board of the Norwegian Dental Association, points out that people between the ages of 21 and 24 usually have good dental health.

– We are talking about people who have had free dental care all their lives. If the government wants to help as many people as possible and those who need it most, the proposal should include people in completely different age groups.

– Economic reasons

The dentist believes that economics is one of the most important reasons why the government’s bill is limited to people between 21 and 24 years of age.

– They have less need for dental care and then it will be cheaper to help this group, says Fredriksen.

He points out that it would be far more expensive for the state if the age group were extended.

– One thing is that there would have been far more patients, but these are also people who we know from experience need more treatment.

– Priority should be given to the elderly

Fredriksen is clear about which group has the greatest need for dental care, and which, in his view, should have been covered by the bill.

– I think older people should be prioritized. They are the ones who struggle and have the worst teeth.

In addition to young adults, the government proposes to legislate the right to necessary dental care for people with drug addiction. Those who receive certain municipal health and care services or are in LAR treatment, and for inmates in prisons.

For these groups, the treatment is already free, if the services or the stay lasts, or is intended to last, longer than three months.

– Exploded capacity

Initially, it is public dentists who will handle the patients in the age group 21 to 24 years.

Fredriksen believes that this will cause capacity problems.

– If you include and involve dentists in both the public and private sector, there is sufficient capacity. The problem is that this age group is to be helped by the public dental health service and there the capacity is blown.

Dentist Martin Hoftvedt is head of the professional board of the Oslo Dental Association. He believes the government’s proposal will put further pressure on the public dental health service.

– The public dental health service is already struggling with the capacity to help this group, which means that we who work in the private sector must assist.

– A lot of paper and bureaucracy

The private dentists must forward their bills to the county dentist, in order to have their expenses covered based on a public tariff.

– It goes without saying that there will be a lot of paper, bureaucracy and quite tiring administration, explains Hoftvedt.

The government’s proposal is now being considered by the Storting’s health and care committee.

In June The Storting in June.

If everything goes as the government parties and partner SV hope, the law will enter into force on 1 July.

Will prioritize minimum pensioners

Storting representative Bård Hoksrud (Frp) is a member of the health and care committee. He largely agrees with Fredriksen that the bill does not reach those who are most in need.

– Minimum pensioners, older people in general and people who struggle with dental-related diseases should have been prioritized, Hoksrud believes.

He believes many simply cannot afford or dare to go to the dentist because they fear a sky-high bill.

– But can you afford to foot the bill? Where will the FRP get the money to finance this?

– It is not a question of spending more money than is in the government’s proposal, but of prioritizing other groups before people between 21 and 24 years of age.

Promises gradual expansion

NRK has tried to get a comment from newly minted Minister of Health and Care Jan Christian Vestre (Ap), but it is party colleague and state secretary Ellen Moen Rønning-Arnesen who answers.

– The government wants a gradual expansion of the public dental health service. For us, it is important to strengthen preventive work for good dental health. Then it is natural to start by expanding the right to cheaper dental care for young adults, as the Storting has also made a budget decision on.

The State Secretary points out that the government’s proposal is about facilitating good dental health habits, now and in the long term.

– In addition to making it cheaper for young people to go to the dentist now, it can also help prevent future problems.