From January 1, 2025, dental surgeons will be encouraged to set up in areas where they are few in number.
- In France, access to dental care is unequal depending on the territory.
- To combat medical deserts, dentists will be encouraged to set up in areas where there are few of them.
- Financial aid will be increased to help them settle in.
Access to dental care is unequal in France. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 22,000 municipalities in France are very understaffed with dental surgeons, or 65% of them.
To combat medical deserts and facilitate access to care for as many people as possible, new measures are being put in place from January 1, 2025. Young dental surgeons are encouraged to settle in the least well-equipped municipalities.
How can we encourage dental surgeons to set up in medical deserts?
According to theAgence France PresseHealth Insurance will stop appointing new dentists in so-called over-endowed areas. There are 77 of them in the country, including the city of Strasbourg, Anglet, Neuilly-sur-Seine and certain districts in western Paris. Only replacements of dentists after cessation of activity or retirement will allow new professionals to set up while benefiting from the agreement. “Clearly, a practitioner who opened a new practice in Strasbourg could certainly treat his patients there, but they would not be reimbursed.specifiesAFP.
To help professionals settle in areas with fewer dentists, financial aid will be doubled: any dentist setting up in a very under-resourced area will benefit from flat-rate aid of 50,000 euros. “As for aid for maintaining activity – cannot be combined with aid for installation – it represents €4,000/year to encourage the retention of professionals in the most fragile areas, indicates theARS Hauts-de-France. Additional aid may be granted by local authorities for professionals who settle in very under-resourced and under-resourced areas..”
Dental care: supporting future professionals from their training
Dentists in training can also benefit from specific assistance if they commit to practicing in under-resourced or very under-resourced areas after their studies. They are eligible for a public service contract. “2nd and 3rd cycle students in dentistry enrolled in a CESP receive a flat-rate monthly allowance of €1,200, provided that after their studies they practice in an under-resourced or very under-resourced area for a number of years. years at a minimum equal to that during which they received the allowance”explains the regional agency.
This type of measure could be extended to other specialties. According to AFP, a bill was tabled on December 3 by 237 deputies. Only a cessation of activity, of a health professional exercising the same specialty, would allow doctors to settle in areas where the care supply is already sufficient.
