Iceland is an island which is located in North Atlantic Sea and the country is sparsely populated. The country has made rapid development in the health sector. For example, the health status of men and women is good in Iceland as compared to other European countries. Life expectancy of the people is higher at the time of the birth and people of Iceland usually enjoy good health and long life. Everyone in the country is entitled to the emergency health system of the country and the emergency dial number is 112 (“HEALTH SERVICES,” 2017). However, the oral health is not as good as general health because according to a study, the children in Iceland have poor dental health as compared to their peers from the Nordic countries. According to a survey, there were only 270 practicing dentists in Iceland in the year 2012 and according to this statistics per doctor, there are 1184 patients. However, Iceland has more dentists per 1000 population as compared to other European countries except for Greece (Sigurgeirsdóttir, Waagfjörð, & Maresso, 2014). The percentage of the female dentist is 33% who are actively practicing. Other than workforce, the Icelandic Dental Association is the only professional association for the practicing and registered dentists in Iceland. A total of 12 specialists regarding the dental health services are recognized in Iceland.
All these services are Orthodontics, Endodontics, Paedodontics, Periodontics, Prosthodontics, Oral Radiology, Oral Surgery, Dental Public Health, Operative Dentistry, Occlusion, Oral Medicine and Geriatric Dentistry (Kravitz, Bullock, Cowpe, & Barnes, 2014). All these specialists work privately in their clinics and patients can directly approach the specialists except for the few doctors who have part-time jobs in the hospital as well. These doctors are self-employed and charge the fee according to the treatment provided to the patients. There are several treatments which have been reimbursed by the health insurance systems such as examination, diagnosis, X-ray, and prophylaxis as well as another type of investigations.
The health system of the country is publically funded and state-centered while providing the universal health care services (Sigurgeirsdóttir et al., 2014). The healthcare services are financially funded by the state and the finances for these services are obtained by taxes. The healthcare system in Iceland is financed by annual national budget presented by the government. However, in the health services, the oral health service is not provided by the state and usually are patient funded. It means that most the oral health services obtained by individuals are out of the pocket from the individual and households (Kravitz et al., 2014). There are some options for health insurance of the dental fees in which insurance companies provide limited assistance for the dental fees. The Iceland health insurance (IHI) covers a part of the cost for the dental services but the facility is limited to the children, people who have a pension or disabled pensioners.
Also, IHI only reimburses the price for the general dental and does not cover the cost of implants or gold fillings. In other words, the services provided regarding oral health in Iceland are usually by private dentist practitioners. Dentist are the ones who fix the prices of the services to tackle the oral health issues and the reimbursement by IHI is only done for the prices which are set by IHI and if there is difference in the price of dentist and IHI then the patient has to bear the price (Sigurgeirsdóttir et al., 2014). So it is the responsibility of the patient to take care of their own oral health as well as the oral health of their family members. Parents take their children for the regular check-up of their teeth. The government has started taking the initiatives to tackle the issues of oral health such as children aged three, six and twelve are entitled to surveillance and prevention at a dentist once a year, free of charge (Sigurgeirsdóttir et al., 2014). Other than that government has taken some steps to improve the access to the oral health services for children and adolescent as well as increased the reimbursement for the dental services.
There are several advantages of having the dental health care system as it helps in prevention of oral diseases and maintains the oral health among people. Having a proper dental healthcare system will allow people to access the oral health service which is state-run. But having the access or the dental health system does not ensure the good oral hygiene among people. Providing the services does not signify that people are using the services and other factors are not hamper the access. For example, the dental health service in Iceland are there but these services are not state funded.
Therefore, the percentage of people seeking oral health care is low and the cost is one of the main barriers. For instance, according to a study carried out by Icelandic Dental Association, 20 percent to 30 percent do not opt for a regular dental checkup because of finances. The children are reported having increased carries experience and one of the main reason is recent financial crises and decrease reimbursement of the dental care in Iceland (Sveinsdottir & Wang, 2014). However, the recent news has reported that all the children residing in Iceland are entitled to free dental care and for that, all children need to have a registered dentist (Fontaine, 2018). Initially, the eldest child was getting the services but now the program has been expanded to all children between 0-18 years of the age. The progress is encouraging and would bring an affirmative outcome in the oral health of the children and will impact their later age.
Iceland is a small island in the Atlantic Sea. The health services provided in Iceland are adequate but the state lack in providing the oral health services to its citizen. Having a good dental health is essential for overall health as having poor oral health will lead several infectious diseases and other issues. The dentist population ratio in Iceland is better than other Nordic countries. There are also specialists available across the country to provide the services. To access the dental health services, the citizens have to pay for the service acquired. The Iceland Health Insurance (IHI) has taken initiative to pay a part of the cost for the dental services but the facility is only for the children, pensioners, and disabled pensioners. Out of pocket payment is one of the main barriers to access and utilization of the health services. The country is aiming to take initiative to provide the dental health service.
