Data about dental visits and work in 2017 is published in the Health Statistics and Health Research Database.
Last year, nearly 1.98 million dentists' visits were made, which is 5.2% more than the year before. The average rate of dentists' visits per capita was 1.5 (in 2016 the rate was 1.4).
79% of dental care visits are dentists' visits. The number of dental care visits has increased by 4.2%. In total, 1.01 million teeth were treated, which is 2.2% less than previous year.
In 2017, the growth in orthodontic and dental hygienists’ visits continued. The use of both services increased significantly – more than 15%. In 2017, total of 170,000 visits were made to orthodontists. There were almost equally orthodontic visits for adults and for children – 51% of all orthodontic visits were made by adults and 49% by children. 27,500 orthodontic appliances were installed, which is 41% more than previous year. The large increase in installed orthodontic appliances is justified by the updating of the Health Insurance Funds' list of health care services – in 2017, the list of diagnoses for under the age of 19 was expanded covered by medical insurance for the payment of orthodontic treatment and several new un-removable orthodontic appliances were also added to the list.
In 2017, there was more than 23,000 visits to dental hygienists. When in 2016 the number of children’s visits was around one fifth, then in 2017 the percentage of children’s visits decreased back to level of 2015, amounting 13%.
Comparing the number of equivalent employment by these occupations in November 2016 and 2017, for orthodontists, this has not changed significantly, but the number of equivalent employment of dental hygienists increased from 14 to 20. At the same time, the number of clinics that offers orthodontic treatment increased also by 6% in 2017.
An increase continued for the number of placed dental implants. In total 10,583 implants were placed, which is more than a one fifth more than year before.
The number of prosthetic visits increased by 9% and the number of patients who got the prostheses increased by 12%. There were no major changes in prosthetic treatment over the past two years.
The total number of dental X-rays didn’t increase significantly – nearly 300,0000 dental X-rays were made and it showed 2.1% increase compared to the year 2016.