Govt confirms: Kids dental care covered in insurance scheme

Simon Hodges, senior advisor on the project, said the Authority is targeting a standard of healthcare by 2012 that looks “broadly” like schemes in place in New Zealand, Holland and the parts of the US.

“They all define basic healthcare which includes child dentistry,” he said. “The medical directorate and the strategic planning team need to look at those definitions and decide what that means in Dubai, but…it is likely we will cover child dentistry.”

Dental care will not be included in the first phase of the insurance plan, slated to begin in January 2009. The percentage of funding set aside for dentistry is likely to depend on the number of children referred for dental care by primary health clinics, Hodges said.

The decision is a positive step in the fight to improve the oral health of children in the region. However, details about the scheme remain vague. The DHA has said it hopes to have a regulatory plan and timeframe in place by the end of the year, but dentists remain sceptical.

“There will need to be more clarification,” said Joanna Fadel, specialist dentist at the Seven Dental Centre, Dubai. “As a parent, it would be good for my children, but as a dentist, I would want to know what will be covered and what kind of figure will be offered to cover the work.”

Fadel believes most dentists would sign up to the scheme if the compensation were commensurate to the quality of work being done. “If we spend a lot of time providing quality treatment, only to receive ridiculous compensation, then it would not be good for us as dentists.”

Dr Linesh Sagar, director of the Noa Dental Clinic in Dubai, agrees. “While there is a need to offer wide ranging, affordable dental treatment, especially for children, there needs to be more solid guidelines,” he said.

“For instance, dentists will want to know whether or not they are obliged to undertake work as part of the scheme, or whether it is an opt-in system.”