A pioneering project got under way at the end of 2018 to guarantee the right of all citizens to dental care, regardless of their financial circumstances. This was how the municipal dental service began, with a clinic located in Carrer de Viladomat. The initiative has now reached Torre Baró, with a second centre offering free dental care to vulnerable people.
The new centre is at Plaça dels Eucaliptus, 3, in the neighbourhood of Torre Baró. It means a 33% increase in the number of hours in service provided by the municipal dentist, bringing the figure to 121 hours a week. It also means a 50% increase in the provision of dental hygiene services, bringing the figure to 56 hours a week.
The new centre also offers greater proximity for the districts of Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Horta-Guinardó, which between them accounted for 37% of users last year.
Over two thousand patients since the start
The service started with the opening of the first centre in Carrer de Viladomat in November 2018. Since then, the municipal dentist has attended to 2,080 patients, who between them made 15,039 visits. Despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the service attended to 1,369 people in 2020. All patients were referred to the service by professionals linked to social work: 76.2% from Social Services, 18.5% from specialist social services and 5.2% from drug-dependency support and follow-up centres (CAS).
Joint efforts for better dental health
Besides opening free dental clinics for vulnerable people, the City Council signed a collaboration agreement with the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in March to attend to up to 150 young children and 500 homeless people every year. Similarly, another agreement was signed nearly a year ago with the business association for dental clinics, to offer reduced prices to vulnerable patients who hold the Pink Card or the Barcelona Solidarity Card.