The Government announced today that the scope of services for the Community Dental Support Programme (CDSP) will be expanded next year to further enhance subsidised preventive and curative dental services for the underprivileged with financial difficulties.

In addition to providing the existing services of oral health assessments, medication for dental pain relief, X-ray examinations and dental fillings or extractions, new service items, including dental scalings, root canal treatments, removal of bridges or crowns and removable denture fittings, will be introduced from January 1 next year. 

Subject to the assessment by the attending registered dentist, each participant can receive dental scaling services and a root canal treatment for one tooth every 365 days.

Regarding removable denture fittings, each participant can receive the service up to two times, with an interval of at least five years in between.

To ensure the proper use of limited resources to achieve greater cost-effectiveness, and to allow the underprivileged to receive the most effective treatment services, the removable dentures fitting service will only be available to eligible persons with fewer than 20 remaining teeth. Such individuals must first be assessed by a dentist as having difficulties in eating or chewing and their eating abilities could be effectively restored by the fitting of removable dentures.

The CDSP will also expand the beneficiaries list to cover the homeless, allowing them to be certified and referred by registered social workers in designated non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to participate in the CDSP, even when they are unable to provide the required financial proof to meet the eligibility criteria.

Under a co-payment arrangement, apart from government subsidies, participants have to pay a fee to the NGO providing the service.

The Department of Health launched the CDSP on May 26 with 32 NGOs providing services to eligible participants at 78 service points. As at August 6, a total of 1,892 eligible persons had received subsidised dental services, which included 2,549 dental fillings and 906 extractions. The ratio of the two is approximately three to one, reflecting that the CDSP has successfully guided service users towards tooth retention when the dentist considers it suitable, aligning with the Government’s initiatives on oral health and dental care.

The CDSP will supplant the Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Programme (EDAP) which will cease to accept applications from January 1 next year. Eligible elders must submit their application for the EDAP through their service unit on or before December 31, and attend the first consultation no later than January 31 next year.

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