HONG KONG/LEIPZIG, Germany: Representatives of the Ministry of Health and the National Dental Centre (NDC) in Singapore have rejected criticism about long waiting lists for special dental procedures in governmental dental clinics. In a public letter posted on the Singapore Dental Association’s website in December, Dr Kwa Chong Teck, Executive Director of the National Dental Centre, and Chief Dental Officer Patrick Tseng said that for patients seeking elective specialist treatment, the NDC generally offers an appointment within two weeks.

They admitted, however, that there is a waiting list of patients requiring elective crown and bridge work, root canal treatment or dentures.

In Singapore, special dental treatments are subsidised only when patients are referred from governmental dental clinics. The national medical saving scheme, called Medisave, which is supposed to help individuals set aside part of their income to meet future personal or immediate family’s hospitalisation, only covers one-day surgical procedures.

The Ministry of Health has rejected demands to extend the scheme for private clinics to reduce waiting times. Recent feedback on delayed procedures came from patients asking for non-emergency elective treatments, such as braces and dentures, a government official said. She added that heavy subsidy without means-testing for these procedures will inevitably lead to long queues.

“Medisave should be treated as a financial reserve so that treatment needs are met,” Dr Ansgar Cheng, a consultant dental surgeon at a private dental clinic in Singapore, told Dental Tribune Asia Pacific. “The key is to identify those dental treatments that should be regarded as needs versus the non-urgent optional treatments like tooth whitening, which should be taken out of the equation. There is no doubt that governmental clinics will be able to cope with the public demand with time.”