They opened a new dental practice in Nové Město pod Smrkem, the interest of patients is great

The ceremonial opening of the dental practice took place on March 3, 2023 in Nové Město pod Smrkem. On the left, the Governor of the Liberec Region, Martin Půta, and the Mayor of Nové Město pod Smrkem, Petr Černica, during an interview with a journalist.

Nové Město pod Smrkem (Liberecko) – Today, a new dental office was opened in Nové Město pod Smrkem in Liberec, and the first patients should be treated there next week. The Frýdlant ridge is an area where dentists, as well as pediatricians and general practitioners, are missing, so there was a lot of interest in registering for the new practice. During two days, 2,000 people registered, Mayor Petr Černica (ANO) told ČTK. According to him, the preparation of two surgeries, including equipment, cost the city roughly 900,000 crowns.

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“Within two weeks, we would like to build a large 3D X-ray, which will be in the adjacent rooms, and we should have something new that is not yet in Frýdlantsk,” said the mayor. With a request for a contribution, he addressed the mayors of the municipalities of the catchment area, i.e. Jindřichovic pod Smrkem, Horní and Dolní Řasnice. “Two councils have already approved a contribution of 150,000 crowns. The mayors of other municipalities around us are also contacting us saying that they would also like to contribute to us so that we take their patients as a priority. However, we expect that we will later open it up to other patients from Frýdlantsk as well,” added the mayor .

There is one dentist's office in Nové Město, but it is not enough for all 3,700 residents of the border town. “Citizens turned to us because they had been looking for a dentist for three years in vain,” said Černica. The city managed to reach an agreement with a private company, which provided one dentist full-time and another part-time, and is able to increase the services if necessary. The surgeries could thus serve up to 7,000 patients. Initially, it will be routine care, patients will be sent elsewhere for more complex procedures.

The opening of a new dental practice in a region where 24,000 people live was today described by Governor Martin Půta (Mayors for the Liberec Region) as a small miracle. According to him, border regions in particular have problems providing medical care for their residents, and not just dental care. The region is therefore preparing a subsidy program that should help municipalities prepare and equip doctor's offices so that they have a better chance of attracting doctors. “We want to create a map of priorities in cooperation with VZP, so far there should be 1.5 million crowns in the program and we are talking about 50 percent support,” the governor told ČTK.

According to the Czech Stomatological Chamber (ČSK), there are 275 dentists in the Liberec Region, one per 1,609 inhabitants, but according to information from the regional office, the number of full-time dentists has decreased by 22 since 2018. According to the president of the Czech Dental Chamber, Roman Šmucler, there are 6,800 dentists in the Czech Republic and roughly 1000 does not have contracts with health insurance companies. According to statistics, care is most affordable in Prague, where there is one dentist per 750 inhabitants, at the opposite end of the scale is the Central Bohemian Region, where there are 2,191 people per dentist, but some patients travel to Prague.

According to Půta, the poor availability of care in the peripheries is a failure of health insurance companies and also of the Ministry of Health. “I think that as far as dentists are concerned, a lot of young doctors open their offices without any patients from health insurance companies and work only for cash, I think that in a system where they get education in free healthcare, they should have towards the state and its residents to have some commitment,” added the governor of Liberec.

Number of practicing dentists by region:

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source: Yearbook of the Czech Stomatological Chamber 2021