The Swedish government has announced a significant dental care reform aimed at reducing costs for seniors over 67. The reform, part of the Tidö Agreement, will expand high-cost protection and introduce a new dental care subsidy, significantly lowering expenses for eligible patients. However, the opposition criticizes the plan, arguing it doesn't address price regulation.
Sweden Introduces Cheaper Dental Care for Seniors
Cheaper Dental Care for Seniors
It will become more affordable for those over 67 to visit the dentist. The proposal was presented by the Tidö parties at a press conference on Thursday.
– This is the next step in the largest dental care reform in over 20 years, says Social Minister Jakob Forssmed (KD).
The high-cost protection will be expanded and will initially apply to people aged 67 and older. According to the government, older individuals often suffer the most from poor oral health and dental hygiene.
– Therefore, it is now so important and reasonable that this first step in enhanced high-cost protection targets seniors with the worst oral health. It has been a key priority for our parties, says Jakob Forssmed.
It will become cheaper by introducing a new support, a special dental care subsidy. At the same time, the special dental care allowance will be increased.
120 SEK to Fix a Tooth
According to the Sweden Democrats' group leader Linda Lindberg, it will be significantly cheaper for those covered by the proposal to visit the dentist. Patients will pay at most 10 percent of the reference price, or the dentist's price if it is lower than the reference price.
– To give an example, if the reference price for filling a cavity is set at 1,200 SEK, the patient will only pay 120 SEK.
Even on an annual basis, the cost of dental care will decrease for the group.
– The average cost for a patient over 67 will go from 4,600 SEK per year to 1,900 SEK. This means the cost is more than halved, says Social Insurance Minister Anna Tenje (M).
Free Dental Care Withdrawn
The dental care subsidy will cover treatments such as fillings and root canals. Not all dental care is included, for example, examinations – where high-cost protection and the possibility to apply for a dental care allowance still apply.
The costs for the state in this first step of the dental care reform are expected to be between 3.4 and 4.5 billion SEK per year. The government has withdrawn free dental care for young people aged 20 to 23 as part of the financing.
The government has earmarked 3.4 billion SEK annually from 2026 for the reform.
The new high-cost protection is intended to come into effect on January 1, 2026. The reform is part of the Tidö Agreement.
V-Criticism: “Sad Flop”
Parts of the opposition are critical of the proposal.
The Left Party's leader Nooshi Dadgostar calls it a “sad flop” in a post on X, arguing that dental care will continue to be expensive.
“So long as there is no courage to regulate treatment prices, healthcare companies will just raise their prices. It becomes a subsidy to their profits. Dentists do not adhere to reference prices. It's a shame the government didn't dare to follow the investigation's proposal,” she writes.