People from rural areas often complain of great difficulties in finding dentists. According to the Dental Chamber, the situation is slowly improving, especially in large cities.
We don’t take any more patients – that’s a phrase heard by almost everyone interested in registering today. Dentists are few and overloaded. Even in a big city like Olomouc, it is not easy to find a dentist. The local facilities are bursting without exaggeration.
“At the moment, we are not registering any patients for capacity reasons. We have a lot of patients, and we have nowhere to book them. We receive several dozen calls every day, ” said dentist Jiří Velký.
On the other hand, there are desperate patients, like Mr. Vacek, who may have a dismal record. “I’ve been looking for a dentist for ten years and still haven’t found one. Fortunately, I don’t have any problems at the moment, but when they come, I don’t know how I’m going to solve them, ” Ondřej Vacek said.
Ingrid Šimčíková also had a bad experience with finding a dentist. “I have been trying to find a dentist for a year. I’ve been calling clinics, but no one is bringing in new patients, ” she explained.
Are things improving?
“Waiters are moving to big cities, cinemas are moving there, shops are moving there, and dentists are moving there. The number of dentists is increasing rapidly everywhere. Still, they are younger, and they have a slightly different style of work, ” said Roman Šmucler, president of the Czech Chamber of Dentistry.
People have to get used to commuting to the dentist. In more remote places, the town hall tries to entice doctors to set up an office even if they live in a flat. In Štíty, a specialist from as far away as Ukraine has been recruited in this way. But even here, they are not accepting any more clients.