When Siri had a toothache, she put Paracet in the crater to save on dental expenses. Now he is fighting so that everyone can afford to go to the dentist.

– I do not treat anyone to go through what I do, says Siri Tuft Lundemoen. Finally she was rushed to the hospital with cavities.

Siri Tuft Lundemoen (51) sits on the couch in her apartment and smiles softly. She says she has severe pain in her wisdom tooth, swollen jaw, and sinusitis, and that she has been trying to numb the pain with medication for almost three months.

– The problems with my teeth got bigger and bigger as I got older. In my mid-30s, the toothache started to show up more often, but I couldn’t afford to go to the dentist. When I became disabled, the most important thing was the clothes for the children and the food on the table.

Several thousand crowns

Lundemoen is just one of several Norwegians who say they can’t afford to go to the dentist.

In a recent Statistics Norway survey of living conditions, five percent answered that they were unable to go to the dentist due to poor finances.

In Norway, the dental health service is divided into two parts: one public and one private. The public part of the dental health service offers free or partially subsidized services to priority groups. (See data box).

A regular exam at the dentist costs around 1000 crowns.

If you have to remove a tooth, it costs between 1000 and 1600 crowns. If you have to fill in the roots, it can quickly cost more than 4,000 crowns, figures from various dental clinics show.

– The face was twice as big

For Lundemoen, it peaked last summer when she felt extreme pain in a tooth that had been in pain for two years.

– I tried not to stop with the paracetamol that I pushed towards the crater. He was open to the nerves. Other times I used Paralgin forte or dipped a vodka swab into the hole.

But it only got from bad to worse. Finally, he had to go to the dentist for help. The bill amounted to 1000 crowns.

– It was beyond the food budget, but I had no choice. They pulled out what was left of the tooth. The bacterial mass splashed and ran. The next morning I had so much pain in my face that I didn’t know where to go. My face had gotten twice as big. The swelling came slightly above the temple. And it looked like it was about to explode, he says.

More than 60,000 members

Next to her sits retired dentist Terje Mikkelsen and follows her closely.

– After running my own dental practice for almost 50 years, I have seen many human tragedies because they have not been able to afford to go to the dentist, he says.

After the summer, he decided to do something for them and created the Facebook group “Dentistry / Finance”. The group now has more than 60,000 members.

– As it is now, it is unworthy. I have seen people who use gum where they lack teeth to dare to go out. Others have arrived with dental stumps, where the sharp edges cut the tongue and caused inflamed wounds.

The group’s goal is to equate dental health service with health service, so that everyone can afford to go to the dentist.

– Diseases of the mouth, teeth and jaw are as many diseases as they are in the body. But when one is treated by a dentist, the patient has to pay for it himself.

– It will cost society a lot, but it is something that has to be done. Covering 40 percent of the amount will also help considerably.

I want politicians in the field

Siri Tuft Lundemoen became a member of the group a few days after its creation. She is currently one of the administrators.

– I am very concerned about justice. I don’t have many whole teeth left myself. And there are holes in all of them. Sometimes the lip also gets stuck between the teeth because there are very uneven edges. There’s nothing special about smiling when you look like this, says Lundemoen, who has also gradually developed dental anxiety.

– Now politicians must go out into the field. The dental association has also been too weak here, adds Mikkelsen.

You want to strengthen the dental health service

Public funding currently amounts to around 6 billion crowns, according to the president of the Norwegian Dental Association, Camilla Hansen Steinum. She says they have been working for more public funding of the dental health service for many years.

– We want both a strengthening of the public dental health service and a strengthening and expansion of the National Insurance benefits scheme, which provides benefits to patients with different diagnoses, both medical and dental, he says and adds:

– We believe that while funds are limited, they should be prioritized and targeted to the patients who need it most.

She says they continually work with authorities and other decision makers, and that for years they have demanded a comprehensive review of the dental health service, both in terms of organization and funding.

– Fully possible to achieve over time

The spokesperson for the Labor Party’s (Labor Party) dental health policy, Tellef Inge Mørland, thinks it is good for people to get involved.

– When people with bad finances cannot afford the necessary dental health treatment, it ruins their lives in the worst case. Social life is limited and can limit job opportunities. This is how we can’t have it, he writes in an email.

In the Labor Party’s alternative budget, the party will spend 500 million on raising the age limit for free dental treatment and introducing support schemes for those with poor finances.

– Is it possible to equate the dental health service with other health services?

– It will cost to match dental health with other dental health services. But I think it is entirely possible to achieve this over time, if it is given a high enough political priority, says Mørland.

He points out that the current government went in the opposite direction when last year they cut 100 million for orthodontics for children.

It will cost around 12 billion a year

According to Conservative Party health policy spokesman Sveinung Stensland, it will cost NOK 12 billion a year to match dental health service with health services if everyone is included.

By comparison: public spending on health was NOK 317 billion in 2019.

– Today, dental treatment is free for one in four inhabitants. If it is to apply to the entire population, it must be cut elsewhere in the health services. It is unrealistic to expand the welfare state when in the future we will struggle to maintain the one we already have, Stensland writes in an email.

Steinsland says the government has expanded the free dental health plan through several support plans.

– Dental treatment expenses. I have a great understanding that it is bitter money and that for some it is not possible to make ends meet. The welfare state may not be everything to everyone, but it should be there for those who need it most.

Admitted for more than a week

Siri Tuft Lundemoen says the incident last summer left her in shock.

– Like I said, my face was twice as big and the pain was unbearable. The dentist who had removed the tooth could do nothing. When I called my doctor, they told me to contact 113 right away, says Lundemoen.

For the next three or four days, he remembers little, he says. She was admitted to Haukeland University Hospital for more than a week.

The admission documents state, among other things, that the CT scan showed inflammation in the tissue around the angle of the right jaw with various infections.

– it was absolutely horrible

– The infection had passed into the bloodstream. There were four operations, blood poisoning, bacteria scraping, drainage and morphine. It was absolutely shocking.

Today he fights chronic toothache and inflammation. But this summer, he was told that he now has his dental treatment covered through the county municipality due to dentist anxiety.

– I don’t try to make people go through what I have done. With larger differences, the case is even more important. Unfortunately, we get poorer and then dental health becomes a bigger problem.