Dental care
Overall good service but high cost for patients
Nordic countries are often considered to be among the world's references for the quality of dental care. Local equipment manufacturer have gained a significant market share with a high-end customers worldwide, but remains too specialised to fulfil all the needs of their home markets. These countries also have a fair reputation of very efficient and very well funded preventive dental care for children and teenagers.
On the other hand, the quality of dental care for adults tends to depend increasingly on the patient's income. Most countries see a growing gap between moderately priced public dentists, sometimes facing long queues (up to 16 months as reported in few Helsinki municipal health centres), and efficient but expensive private dentists. The strategies are diverse, with laws modifying the refund system (Sweden passed an important reform in July 2008), trying to reduce the queuing time or strengthening private insurance schemes.
Baltic countries have seen in the past 10 years a quick development of private clinics aiming at Nordic or British customers. Their service can be up to 5 times cheaper than in the home country, giving birth to an active dental tourism. Only local children and teenagers are eligible to a good refund by national healthcare funds.
Distribution is growingly controlled by companies specialising in sales to dentists, versus bigger groups having a wide healthcare portfolio that used to dominate the market. Numerous foreign providers are selling to Nordic and Baltic countries, the main opportunities being in small and specialised equipments or in innovative hygiene solutions.
Useful Links
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Norway
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Iceland
Events
15-17th September 2010:
Baltmedica,
Vilnius, Lithuania
23-24th September 2010:
Vejle, Denmark
11-13th November 2010
Helsinki, Finland
18-20th November 2010:
Göteborg, Sweden