The OMD is presenting the “Manifesto for Oral Health in Portugal - From Promise to Execution” to the political parties, warning of the real risk that the new National Program for the Promotion of Oral Health 2030 (PNPSO 2023) will not be implemented, as it will only come into effect in 2027, thus “prolonging a history of announced but repeatedly postponed reforms.”

Excessive bureaucracy

A recent technical analysis confirms that oral health continues to be hampered by “excessive bureaucracy, short political cycles, lack of stable governance, and dependence on digital systems yet to be completed,” such as the Oral Health Information System (SISO 2.0) and the Oral Health Bulletin, according to the statement.

New program

SISO 2.0 was created to manage oral healthcare within the SNS and modernise a part of the system that had not undergone significant changes since 2008.

The statement highlights that this stagnation occurs in a context of profound inequalities, where 16% of the population has unmet dental needs, 76% postpone treatments for economic reasons, more than 70% are unaware that the SNS offers dental consultations, and a significant portion of people with tooth loss do not have access to prostheses, which “reveals a persistent and structural inequality”.

Special Career Pathway

The Order of Dentists classifies the creation of a Special Career Pathway for Dentists in the SNS as “a strategic imperative” and laments that, although Portugal trains a large number of dentists, it continues to “lose professionals due to the lack of career opportunities and precarious employment in the public sector”.

It also warns that oral health cannot remain tied to reforms that are successively announced and repeatedly postponed, advocating for the need for a program that arrives on time, a fully functional oral health voucher, a prosthesis voucher that exists in practice, an operational information system, and simple, transparent, and user-centred governance.