Ministry of Health and Welfare to Expand 'Pilot Project for Dental Primary Care for Disabled Persons' Nationwide by the End of This Month

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 5th that it will expand the pilot project for dental primary care for people with disabilities nationwide starting from the 28th of this month.

The pilot project for dental primary care for people with disabilities is a program aimed at improving the oral health of people with disabilities who need oral health management by providing comprehensive oral care services such as preventive treatment and oral health education through dental primary care physicians. Until now, it has only been implemented in Busan, Nam-gu in Daegu, and Jeju City in Jeju.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare explained that as a result of the pilot project, 36.8% of participating patients experienced improvements in caries, damaged teeth, pain, etc., and the average number of tartar removal visits increased by 1.5 times compared to before participating in the pilot project, confirming the effect of improving access to dental care.

Before the nationwide expansion of the pilot project, the Ministry held face-to-face training on the 4th of this month for 100 dentists together with the National Rehabilitation Center (Central Disabled Health Care Center) and the Korean Dental Association.

Hwang Seung-hyun, Director of the Disability Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "The pilot project for dental primary care for people with disabilities is an important program that supports improving the oral health of people with disabilities who have difficulties managing their oral health," adding, "We will strive to ensure that more people with disabilities can receive health management services through this expanded implementation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.