Feels forced to pull decayed teeth
Several students feel forced to have their decayed teeth pulled when the price at the dentist gets too high. Student Knut Haavard Kløvfjell had to call home and ask for an advancement of his inheritance.
- I could under no condition have paid for this myself. Student Knut Haavard Kløvfjell had to call his father and get help to pay an 8000 kroner dentist bill. @undersaktit:Promises to go in for dental health In 2008 The Government was in a report to the Storting criticized for the lack of effort to improve students’ dental health. Now both The Norwegian Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet and Socialist Left Party of Norway’s SV promise to prioritize students’ dental health if they come into power for four more years. The Norwegian Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet wants to introduce a dental care reform that makes sure that a visit to the dentist costs the same as a visit to the doctor. -We don’t think that anyone should have to pay more than 120 kroner for a visit to the dentist, and not more than 2500 kroner in one year, says The Norwegian Labour Party’s Dag Ole Teigen of the Health and Care Services at the Storting. The Socialist Left Party of Norway’s also speaks up for a dental care reform where the patient’s payment does not exceed 2500 kroner a year, but in addition they also want to introduce free dental care for people 23 years and younger. First candidate for SV in Sør-Trøndelag, Snorre Valen, sees the opportunities to include students older than 23 years in the system. -Such a radical dental health reform will be costly anyway, so it won’t matter that much if we include these students, too, he says. The National Union of Students in Norway, NSU, thinks that the little information available about students’ dental health is worrying. -Many young people avoid seeing a dentist, and in the long term it can create large problems in the social economy. It will absolutely be beneficial if we introduce better dental health services for this group of people, says Vice-President Ingjerd Lindeland. She is not sure, however, if SV’s promises about free dental care for people 23 years and under will benefit students. -Half the amount of students is over 26, so if free dental care really is supposed to contribute to better dental health among students, all students should be included, she says.
– I know of several cases where students have chosen to have their decayed tooth pulled rather than having to pay to have it fixed, says dentist Carl-Henrik Gullaksen of the dental clinic Dentalia in Nydalen.
According to Gullaksen it costs less than a thousand kroner to pull a tooth, while a root filling and a new crown can cost several thousand. He understands that it can be tempting for a student to pull the tooth, but he does however underline that to get rid of a tooth can be problematical.
– A missing tooth can lead to problems, both functional and socially, says Gullaksen.
Had to call his father
The psychology student Knut Haavard Kløvfjell broke one of his teeth while chewing on a nut. He was lucky enough to be able to call his father and ask for an advancement of his inheritance, thus being able to finance the filling of his root canal and a new crown. In all, this cost 8000 kroner.
– It is ridiculously expensive, and a hole in the Norwegian welfare system that needs to be filled. I could under no condition have paid for this myself, says Kløvfjell.
He has heard of students who have chosen to have decayed teeth pulled out when the price of repair was too high, and he thinks that the student support arrangements are not good enough when it comes to dental health.
Rare dental check-ups
Kløvfjell was lucky and got an appointment with one of the dentists in The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo. The price would have been even higher if he had chosen a dentist in the private sector.
Leader of The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo, Marit Eskeland, has not heard of students who had to pull their decayed teeth because it was too expensive to fix them, but she would like to see that a situation where it is cheaper for students to go to the dentist.
– We know that for many the student days are economically bad times, and we see that many students let too much time pass between every visit to the dentist. We are of the opinion that dental health should be prioritized on the same level as general health, says Eskeland.
According to a 2007 survey among students from Trondheim, 32 per cent of the students see a dentist less than once every two years, mainly because of the high prices. The survey is one of the few surveys covering students’ dental health.
Capacity stretched to the limit
The Dental Care Unit in The Foundation of Student Life in Oslo is somewhat cheaper than dental care in the private sector, and therefore provides students with a more reasonable dental care service. According to Eskeland, however, the Dental Care Unit treats way less than the number of people who seek help.
– There is a great influx of students at our clinic, but we only have two dentists and we can’t treat everyone who comes in, she says.
Dentist Carl-Henrik Gullaksen thinks that students are far from good enough when it comes to taking care of their teeth. He also thinks that a dental information service for students could be a good solution to the problem.
– Students spend a lot of money on clothes and nightlife without anyone complaining that that is too expensive. Students need to be better at prioritizing their own dental health, he says.
Ingrid Dahlen Rogstad • Stephane Lelarge • Translated by Ingrid F. Brubaker
