Structure of non-reimbursed and reimbursed therapeutic procedures provided at a general dental care office

Dental care in Poland is based both on the public system (reimbursement by the National Health Fund) and on the private funding (non-reimbursed). The aim of the paper was an analysis of the structure of non-reimbursed and reimbursed therapeutic procedures provided at a general dental care office. The study material was medical documentation of 669 patients treated for 3 months (the third quarter of 2013) at a general dental care office. The structure of therapeutic procedures, with the exception of orthodontic and prosthetic treatment, was analyzed, taking into account the patients’ gender, age, place of residence, the kind of procedure, and the payment type they made. The procedures reimbursed by the National Health Fund constituted 60.1% of all the procedures provided to patients at a dental office. Both among the procedures reimbursed by the National Health Fund and non-reimbursed procedures, the therapeutic procedures prevailed significantly over the prophylactic ones; in all age groups conservative treatment was predominant. An increase in the number of extractions in patients over 40 years of age, in comparison to younger patients, was found. The number of the dental procedures reimbursed by the National Health Fund, compared to the number of the non-reimbursed ones, increased with the patients’ age.