Dental care for low-income people: Solidarity Dentist
In Italy, there is the SIdp project, of the Public Health Service, where citizens who are in a situation of social vulnerability are offered a service of free dental treatment.
Before the pandemic, covered dental services for this population was only 5%. During the pandemic, these services had a drastic decrease, leading a large part of the population to stop receiving any care in this sector.
Today, we are going to talk more about the SIdP project and about the access of low-income families to the Solidarity Dentist. See below.
Solidarity Dentist Program
The San Vincenzo de Paoli Society, in association with the SIdP Onlus Foundation and the Italian Society of Periodontology and Implantology, launched the project entitled O Solidarity Dentist (Il Dentita Solidal), starting on April 30 of this year.
The program seeks to assist families who are in social vulnerability, providing them with dental treatment for complete health and better self-esteem.
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The initiative for this project was due to the world health day, which is celebrated on April 7, where it was accompanied by more than 250 dentists and dental hygienists from SIdP, who dedicate at least one hour a week to providing free dental treatment and exams for this population of low income.
Who identifies the people who need this service and accompanies them in the process is the Società San Vincenzo De Paoli, which plays a fundamental role in the project.
More about the SIdP Onlus Foundation Project
“In addition to intervening in an emergency context to allow urgent treatment, it aims to raise awareness of the importance of prevention and correct oral hygiene practices”, highlights Mario Aimenti, president of the SIdP Onlus Foundation, on the Solidarity Dentist project.
“In Italy, dental services are essentially private with minimal coverage by the public system and consequent economic barriers for citizens”, he adds.
According to some data collected from Istato in 2019, it was estimated that one in two Italian citizens go to the dentist. Among the population that is in a situation of poverty, the percentage drops to just 14% and for those in a situation of extreme poverty, is only 9%.
Aimetti says: “In addition, among foreign citizens, access to dental care is less than half that of Italians and the pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities”.
Thus, the Solidarity Dentist project seeks to minimize the impacts of social differences and the impacts that the pandemic has brought on the population, providing decent health for the entire population.
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