Teklemariam Yarinbab
The major aim of the dental insurance system was to ‘make good dental care financially accessible to all citizens’. Dental care became part of the welfare system, in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social distribution of wealth, combined with a responsibility for those unable to provide for themselves. The extent of the state subsidies for care was decided by the dental conditions, and not by the economic situation of the citizen. The dental insurance of 1974, as well as the following reforms, had a major impact on everything concerning dental care. The insurance made it possible for the majority of Swedes to afford dental treatment of all kinds. Dentistry also became a part of the political agenda, as an integrated part of the state’s responsibilities and finances. When tracking the development of the dental care systems over time, the influence of party ideology and changes in the general political climate both in Sweden and globally, are detectable. Lalonde, who was the Canadian Minister of National Health and Welfare in 1974, proposed a new ‘Health Field’ concept for the understanding of the problems and their causes undermining good health and quality of life for Canadian citizens, and legitimate federal responses ascertained towards these causes. The report is considered to have led to the development and evolution of health promotion, recognising both the need for people to take more responsibility in changing their behaviours to improve their own health, and also the contribution of healthy communities and environments to health. The report was fundamental in identifying health risk behaviours as a determinant of inequalities. The aims of this paper were to study where in the legislative process the dental politics concerning a national dental insurance and subsidies were formed, and to identify critical impact factors. This is defined as those factors—as described by politicians at various levels, experts and officials, always in the final stages within the framework of a Commission of Inquiry—defining the key issues when identifying the task of a dental insurance system and the way to solve these tasks. Intermediating steps are the necessary funding and legislations necessary for the dental reforms aimed at the defined tasks.