In cities, seeing a dentist is a breeze, but in rural areas, many residents suffer from toothaches due to a lack of dental resources. For example, in mountainous areas of Kaohsiung, some residents have to travel across districts for dental care, a journey that can take at least an hour each way. Many also face challenges with their diet and nutrition due to long-term tooth loss.
To address this situation, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), after over a year of preparation, officially launched a mobile dental clinic in Baolai Village, Liugui District, yesterday. Dentists will be stationed there every Monday and Thursday to provide dental care to mountain residents.
Insufficient dental resources are a common problem in rural areas across Taiwan. Although Liugui District already has a dental clinic and a dental clinic, it is still 21.5 kilometers away from Baolai Village.
The NIA and the Kaohsiung Dental Association met last year to discuss the establishment of the mobile clinic. The new clinic is fully equipped with a treatment chair and a digital X-ray machine. On the first day of its opening, residents lined up for treatment, demonstrating the urgent need.
Lin Shuhua, director of the National Health Insurance Administration’s operations team, stated that mobile clinics are a major breakthrough for dental care in rural areas, freeing residents from long journeys. Cai Zhengfeng, chairman of the Kaohsiung Dental Association, also emphasized that only by allowing residents in rural areas to receive local medical care can true medical equity be achieved.
A similar problem has arisen in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District, which currently has no dentists. District Mayor Du Siwei lamented that the government-funded dentist resigned several months ago, leaving elderly residents with toothaches to rely on painkillers or have family members return home to take them down the mountain, a journey that takes most of the day.
In eastern Taitung County, the four townships of Beinan, Luye, Daren, and Donghe also lack dental clinics. Beinan Township only welcomed a returning government-funded dentist last year, resolving a long-standing medical challenge for 16,000 residents.
Other townships rely on mobile clinics. Local residents say that traveling from Taiyuan to the city for dental care used to take an hour, but now the mobile clinics have saved them significant time.
Pingtung County is a long and narrow county, with 13 of its 33 townships lacking dental clinics. To address this, the Department of Health and the Dental Association have partnered to establish 83 mobile clinics to ensure access to dental services throughout the county.
One dentist reported encountering children in remote areas whose toothaches developed into cellulitis due to delayed treatment. Manzhou Township Mayor Gu Rongfu recalled that a dental clinic existed in the area over 10 years ago, but it has long since closed, forcing residents to seek treatment in Hengchun or even further afield.
The Nanhua, Shanshang, Zuozhen, and Longqi districts in Tainan City also lack dentists, relying on mobile vehicles and fixed-point treatment chairs to provide basic services. In Chiayi County, the Dental Association, in collaboration with Tzu Chi and Chia-Chi Hospital, regularly conducts free clinics in Dapu and Alishan.
While Yunlin County has 191 dentists, Kouhu and Erlun Townships still lack dental clinics. The county government has introduced mobile clinics and school-based treatment centers to address this issue.
The problem of insufficient dental care in remote rural areas across Taiwan is gradually improving. Mobile dental clinic services not only shorten residents’ travel time to seek medical treatment, but also provide practical help to villagers who have long suffered from dental problems.