New Tariff Agreement Aims to Resolve Dental Deserts and Promote Preventive Care for a ‘Cavity-Free Generation’

Social security and the two majority unions in the profession have agreed on the new tariff agreement, which runs until 2028. Dentists join the list of health professions with regulated installations.

Dental deserts about to be resolved? Health Insurance and the two main unions of liberal dentists signed a new tariff agreement on Friday, with two main components: one aims to develop preventive care, the other plans to introduce first regulatory measures at the installation of dentists, to fight against dental deserts. This agreement was signed by the two main unions of the profession, namely FSDL (Federations of unions of liberal dentists) and CDF (Surgeons dentists of France). It represents additional expenditure of 600 million euros, over the entire period 2023-2028.

Dentists thus join physiotherapists and nurses in the group of health professions with regulated facilities – a list to which deputies wish to add doctors, the majority of whom are opposed to any constraint. The goal is above all to stop the formation of medical deserts, one of the major reasons for health inequalities and forgoing treatment.

According to the agreement, in areas very well endowed with dentists (where 5% of the population live and where 9% of dentists currently practice), the Health Insurance will only contract a new practitioner if another leaves. This measure will also concern the dentists who are employees of dental centers, these establishments which are multiplying in large cities and often prefer profit to the quality of care – to the point of arousing the concern of the profession.

The demographics of dentists “is more or less stable, where it drops sharply for doctors and increases sharply for paramedics”said Thomas Fatôme, director general of the Cnam (the health insurance fund), presenting the new agreement.

“Cavity-Free Generation”

The other major axis of this new convention concerns prevention and the objective of achieving “cavity-free generation”. To do this, it plans to expand reimbursements and make preventive examinations more attractive. First, a dental examination may be reimbursed each year for the age group 3-24 years. The installation of a fluoride varnish, intended to protect the teeth from cavities, will be supported until the age of 24, instead of 9 years currently.

The price of reimbursed oral examinations will also be more attractive for dentists, with an increase of 10 euros (30 to 40 euros for the simple examination, for example). The prices of preventive care will increase by 30%, in order to be more attractive for the practitioner, but only for 3-24 year olds. For all patients, the agreement provides for an overall increase in conservative treatment prices of 4%.

This new agreement comes a little over a month after the announcement of a reduction in the coverage of dental care by Health Insurance, which will drop from 70% to 60%, as of October 1. The announcement then surprised all the players in the sector.