Health and care

05/03/2021 - 13:00

Health. The new dental clinic is set to attend to 150 children a year.

A new solidarity dental clinic opened in February and will attend to some 150 children and 500 adults a year who are at risk of social exclusion, enabling them to receive dental treatment which is not covered by the public health service. The municipal contribution to the service will be 120,000 euros a year.

The new centre in C/ Bonaplata, in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, is the result of a collaboration agreement with the Sant Joan de Déu hospital. Staffed by social and medical professionals, the prevision is for the new centre to carry out 1,100 fillings, 100 treatments for tooth decay, 500 dental hygiene treatments and 50 root canal treatments.

The collaboration agreement is the first to include dental care for children in vulnerable situations or who have been referred from the various open centres in the city or the social insertion service for families with young children, with a previous diagnosis from their Primary Healthcare Centre (CAP).

Homeless people should be referred from the municipal services providing social care in public space and organisations from the support network for homeless people (XAPSLL).

Commitment to dental health

The solidarity dental clinic represents another step in the municipal strategy to provide cover for local people who can’t afford dental treatment, a situation which affects 12% of the population in Catalonia.

Since it became operative in the autumn of 2018, the municipal dental service for vulnerable people has attended to around 2,000 people, with visits totalling over 14,000. In all, the service has provided 5,400 fillings, 2,300 dental hygiene treatments, 1,600 protheses and 400 root canal treatments.