“We will continue to work to keep the health advertising laws in place”

Posted On: October 8, 2022

He has been renewed as president of dentistry. What goals have you set for this second period?

The main objective of the General Council of Dentists (CGD) is to ensure ethical and quality dentistry in the service of citizens. And to achieve this, it needs: approval of state health advertising laws; modification and correct application of the Laws of Professional Associations; dental specialty approval; curb most professionals and resist intrusion.

They recently presented the «Atlas of oral health in Spain». According to this, we are one of the countries where fewer people go to the dentist compared to the people around us. Why?

Indeed, Spain is one of the EU countries where people visit the dentist the least (only 47-50% do so annually). Here there is no habit of going for routine checkups, the majority go when they are sick, that is, they need to undergo treatment. That’s why at CGD we emphasize the importance of prevention and launch regular campaigns targeted at specific groups where volunteer dentists conduct free checkups for those who request them. For every euro spent on prevention, 20 is saved on maintenance. It should also be borne in mind that the dental and oral health benefits covered by Jamsostek are minimal and it is the residents who pay the dentist’s fees straight out of their pockets. The Atlas shows that dental expenses by Spanish and year (2019) are 90 euros, of which 98% corresponds to direct expenditures, placing us as one of the countries with the highest direct expenditures on dental care (22% in France or 25% in German).

Another fact is that the growth in the number of dentists has been more than 200% in the last 25 years and the population density is double that of the same countries.

According to INE, as of 1 January 2022 there were 40,417 college dentists in Spain, which represents a ratio of one dentist per 1,171 population, when WHO recommends a ratio of one for every 3,500. Every year, about 1,750 new professionals graduate from one of the 23 faculties (12 public and 11 private). And the Council of Ministers has approved the formation of a new private sector. It is important to form a numerus clausus in Dentistry to curb these many professionals. Spain is one of the EU countries with the most Dentistry graduates every year and where fewer people go to the dentist, leading to unemployment and massive emigration.

Continuing this figure, 94% of Spanish adults have cavities and this fact is closely related to social level. Is going to the dentist a thing for the “rich”?

Social level is very decisive. Minors from low social levels have three times as many cavities as those from high levels. Edentulism totals three times as many low-level adults. Obviously, if a person doesn’t have the money to make ends meet, the last thing they think about is the state of their teeth. But let’s go back to the previous: it is necessary to expand the portfolio of Public Health Odontology services, but for this it is necessary to make a strong economic investment, both in human resources and in health facilities. CGD regards oral health as a fundamental right and believes that this aspect has been largely forgotten in Health. We believe that the current model of integration of dentists in primary schools should be reconsidered to strengthen their preventive work, working interdisciplinary with other socio-health professionals. To coordinate all this, it is proposed the creation of a community dental service at the national level, which will be responsible for the management and evaluation of all measures, in collaboration with those responsible for the autonomous community.

The issue to which he has devoted much in recent years is the regulation of health advertising which he mentioned at the outset. How are you?

In June, PSOE and United We Can voted “no” to the processing of the Bill on Publicity of Health Benefits and Activities that PP put forward in Congress, so that it did not go ahead despite the fact that it had been unanimously approved in the Senate. This is a big disappointment for the public health council, because it has been working for many years, we have met many times with all political groups and we insist on the need to regulate health advertising, with the sole aim of protecting the health of the citizens of the city. But political interests prevail over the interests of citizens. This OT processing will prevent the recurrence of scandals like iDental, which attracted citizens thanks to its aggressive advertising campaign in which they promised subsidized treatment with excellent results and which left thousands of victims. We will continue to work to keep this law in place, as our goal is to protect the health of citizens, prevent unscrupulous companies from sending misleading messages and taking advantage of the most vulnerable.

It has become fashionable to go to Turkey too to treat your mouth. What problems do you see?

We warn that it is a fad that is spreading in Great Britain via social networks. Dentists there treated hundreds of patients who returned from Turkey with badly damaged mouths. In Spain, for now, we have only received notification from a dentist from Mallorca, Ferrán Llansana, that he is treating six Spanish patients because the one made in Turkey is not working. As a result, they developed acute apical periodontitis requiring endodontic treatment in multiple restorations; but also discomfort in chewing due to lack of occlusal balance, in addition to aesthetic discomfort. And within months, given the adhesion created to dentin and the dubious adhesive protocol, debonding of ceramic restorations may improve.