To tie in with the Government's drive for developing prevention-oriented dental services with a view to achieving the goal of enhancing the overall level of citizens' oral health through the retention of natural teeth, the Health Bureau announced today (June 25) that the services under the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme funded by the Community Care Fund (CCF) will be enhanced from July 2 with the essential requirement of having removable dentures fitting to be revised. Starting from July 2, eligible elderly persons may receive dental check-ups, scaling and polishing, tooth extractions, fillings, X-ray examinations, removal of bridges or crowns, and root canal treatment even if they are unfit for denture fitting. This enhancement aims to encourage eligible elderly persons to manage dental diseases at an early stage by opting for other preventive and curative dental services, thereby retaining their natural teeth as much as possible and avoiding tooth extractions and denture fittings.
The new arrangements will be applicable to applications submitted on or after July 2. The eligibility criteria of the Programme remain unchanged, with target beneficiaries being low-income elderly persons who are either current recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA), or users of home care services for the elderly under the subvention of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), and fulfilling other related eligibility criteria. In addition, only eligible elderly persons aged 75 years or above who have received dental services under the Programme at least five years ago will be allowed to apply for service a second time.
Starting from July 2, elderly persons receiving the OALA may follow the prevailing practice in making applications. They may bring the original copies of their Hong Kong identity card, documents showing their residential address and bank account documents showing the deposit of the allowance in the last three consecutive months to any of the district service units participating in the Programme. The district service units will handle applications and arrange the first dental appointment for eligible elderly persons. The 200-plus district service units can be found across the city, covering elderly centres, community centres and dental clinics which directly process applications. As for eligible elderly persons using home care services for the elderly under the SWD subvention, they can continue to make applications via their respective service teams.
Elderly persons will not be required to make any payments to the participating dentists after receiving necessary dental treatment services. The Hong Kong Dental Association (HKDA), as the implementing agent of the Programme, will disburse the subsidies direct to the dentists providing treatment services through its Project Office.
At present, there are more than 850 participating dentists for the Programme. The Project Office has recently held briefing sessions for participating dentists and representatives of district service units to get them familiar with the enhancement measures of the Programme and operational details of the new arrangements. The Project Office will continue to enlist more dentists to join the Programme.
Copies of leaflets about the new arrangements, eligibility criteria and application procedures will be available for collection at various district service units starting from July 2. Relevant information and the list of district service units will be made available on the websites of the CCF (www.communitycarefund.hk) and the HKDA (www.hkda.org). Members of the public may call the Programme hotline (2525 8198) for enquiries.
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