In a statement sent to the DentalPro editorial team, the Portuguese Dental Association (Ordem dos M\u00e9dicos Dentistas, OMD) and the Union of Dentists of the Public and Social Sector (SMDSP) welcome the approval of the final text presented by the Health Committee of the Assembly of the Republic (AR) regarding the creation of the Dentist Career within the National Health Service (SNS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After decades without a professional framework within the SNS, the creation of this career represents the recognition of dentistry as an essential clinical field and establishes, for the first time, a specific professional structure for dentists working in the public service. The final text defines the application of the career to dentists, recognizes their professional responsibility and technical-scientific autonomy, as well as their capacity to coordinate teams, services, and units in the field of oral health. “This is a historic step. For the first time, dentistry now has its own career within the SNS, with recognition of its clinical, scientific, and professional differentiation,” says Miguel Pav\u00e3o, president of the OMD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The future dentist career will be structured around three categories of dentist \u2014 assistant, advisor, and senior advisor \u2014 providing for different levels of clinical, technical-scientific, coordination, and management responsibility. The decree also establishes progression conditions based on professional experience and the differentiation of dentists. “This is not merely a formal recognition. The text creates a genuine career structure, with categories, progression, and differentiated responsibilities. This is the necessary path to valuing dentists and strengthening the SNS’s capacity to respond,” the president emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Association, one of the most significant advances is the recognition of the technical and scientific autonomy of dentists, which will help ensure that dentistry is no longer treated as a secondary field within the SNS. The OMD also values the integration of dentists already working within the SNS, without loss of remuneration, seniority, length of service, or other rights, as well as the recognition of prior service time for career progression purposes. “A career will only truly fulfill its purpose if it manages to attract dentists to the SNS and retain them in the regions where the population needs them most. Creating a career is not enough: it is necessary to ensure there are positions, competitions, and professional conditions so that dentists choose it,” Miguel Pav\u00e3o stresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The approval of the law represents, however, only the beginning of a new and final stage. The full realization of this reform will now depend on its regulation, the negotiation of salary scales and other matters provided for in the law, as well as the swift implementation of all the mechanisms necessary for the career to come into effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Union of Dentists of the Public and Social Sector, “Parliament has fulfilled its responsibility today. It is now up to the Government to ensure, with a sense of duty to the State, that the will democratically expressed by the Assembly of the Republic is honored, promoting serious, fair, and swift negotiation with the representative bodies of dentists, ensuring that this reform produces concrete effects without unjustified delays. The SMDSP will take part in this process with responsibility, a constructive spirit, and full willingness to engage in dialogue, as it has done throughout the process now concluding, but will also be firm in defending the swift implementation of the career and the establishment of a salary regime compatible with the high technical-scientific differentiation, clinical responsibility, and functional demands of dentistry within the SNS.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ant\u00f3nio Pereira da Costa, president of the SMDSP, adds: “Today an injustice that had persisted since the creation of the National Health Service was corrected. The creation of the Dentist Career represents a historic milestone for dentistry and for the SNS. But this achievement will only be truly complete once the career is fully implemented. We hope the Government honors the decision of the Assembly of the Republic, meets the legally established deadlines, and conducts, in good faith, the negotiation of regulation and remuneration, allowing this reform to translate into better healthcare for the Portuguese people and into greater recognition for the professionals who provide it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This approval is the recognition of work carried out over many years by numerous dentists, unions, and professional associations, patients, and all the entities that helped keep this issue on the political and institutional agenda until its realization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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