Young people under 24 years of age will soon have the right to a free annual check-up at the dentist, the Health Insurance announced on Thursday, November 7, which thus focuses its dental prevention measures on the youngest.
“If we manage to do this every year until the age of 24, we will have achieved a turning point: it is an entire generation whose dental capital will be preserved”Marguerite Cazeneuve, deputy director of Health Insurance, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Promoting dental health from an early age is a game-changer. »
Currently, young people between 3 and 24 years old can now have a free annual check-up every three years, a measure that benefits about two million patients a year, according to Health Insurance. This consultation includes an oral examination and an awareness interview with the dentist. Reimbursement also includes any necessary treatment.
“Generation without cavities”
In the years since the establishment of these free consultations, introduced in 2006, the rate of young people suffering from cavities has decreased, a trend that health authorities want to accentuate even further to achieve a “generation without cavities”. It is with this objective that they intend to accelerate the frequency of these free assessments, which will be offered each year to young people aged 3 to 24 starting in 2025.
The Health Insurance also plans to carry out more awareness-raising activities in schools and seek better communication with the public. “the furthest from dental care”for example in priority educational establishments, to reach the most disadvantaged.
These measures are announced despite the fact that Health Insurance last year reduced the reimbursement rate for dental care, sending a larger proportion to supplemental health insurance, which threatened to increase its prices.
Cazeneuve, however, downplayed the idea that Health Insurance uses the savings obtained in this area to finance dental prevention actions for the youngest. “They are two very different topics, although we can explain that the objective is to invest directly in prevention”he explained.
For their part, the mutual societies recalled on Thursday that they would finance “up to 40%” free oral exams, “along with health insurance”. “This is a useful and effective health and prevention system” WHO “improves the oral health of the population”declared the Mutualité, which groups complementary health insurance with mutual status.
