Flossing, regular brushing, and rinsing your mouth after every meal can give you a fairly hygienic mouth, but we all have to visit the dentist at least twice a year to maintain oral health.
In many instances medical aids have been covering the costs for these dentist visits. However, according to the statistics revealed in the annual reports of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), visits to dentists by medical scheme beneficiaries, at least once a year decreased during 2011 from 233.2 per thousand to 227.6 per thousand.
This translates to only 0.4 per cent of medical scheme beneficiaries visiting a dentist at least once a year. The report also adds that medical aid scheme payouts to dentists and dental specialists have declined from 8.4 per cent in the late nineties to 3.5 per cent in 2012.
Alarming statistics released by the Government Employees Medical Schemes recently revealed that 41 per cent of women, and 31 per cent of men suffer from oral disease in South Africa, with 64 per cent of women and 56 per cent of men having lost some of their teeth.
Such disturbingly high statistics emphasises the urgent need for dental services to receive a higher priority by Medical Aid Schemes.
The South African Dental Association (SADA) has said in a statement that the actual cover for dentistry by South Africa’s Medical Aid Schemes, in many instances, does not even reimburse the costs of the actual material in dental treatments, let alone pay for the professional time of dentists.
Maretha Smit, CEO of the SADA, reiterates this, and says dentists in South Africa are by no means being remunerated in line with the years of study and the skills they are taught at universities.
“Very few patients understand the limitations of dental cover through their Medical Aid Schemes and scheme rates offered to dentists in many instances, fall way below the actual costs of treatment and service,” she says.
Smit continues, adding that the high outlay for basic equipment, and the staggering costs of materials, most of which are imported from abroad, leaves very little room for a fair profit.
“Very few patients understand that their Medical Aid Schemes are responsible for this failure for basic dentistry to be made accessible, and that the scheme rates offered to dentists, in the majority of cases, fall way below the actual costs of good average treatment and service,” she says.
