Dentistry in upheaval: Amalgam fillings from 2025 finally past!

Dentistry in upheaval: Amalgam fillings from 2025 finally past!

In Austria, there are significant changes to tooth fillings, since the controversial amalgam will be banned across the EU from January 1, 2025. After long negotiations, the Dental Association and the Insurance Center have reached an agreement on public officers, railways and mining (BVAEB). From this date, glass ionomer cities and the new material alkasite will be available as cash benefits to replace amalgam. This decision has an impact on over 1.2 million insured persons from BVAEB, which will benefit from the new regulations. The tariff for these materials is based on the previous sentences for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children under the age of 15, while composite fillings in the area of the side teeth must continue to be paid privately, as kosmo.at reported.

dispute over cost transfer

The Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) has so far not been able to reach an agreement with the Dental Association, but shows a certain accommodation by being ready to pay 20 percent more for amalgam -free fillings. Nevertheless, the Dental Association rejects this and urges the provision of glass ionomer cement as a free material. This ensures frustration on the part of the ÖGK, which is even considering addressing individual contracts directly to dentists in order to overcome the standstill. Despite the differences, the Dental Association remains ready to talk and appeals to the ÖGK and the social insurance of the self -employed (SVS), the agreement already achieved as an example of future agreements, such as meinbezirk.at noted.

With the approaching amalgam ban, the pressure on everyone involved grows to ensure wide and inexpensive supply with safer filling materials. The talks between the ÖGK and the Dental Association remain tense because a date planned for November was canceled. While the health fund continues to endeavor to offer solutions for the approximately 7.6 million insured, it remains to be seen whether an agreement can be reached in the near future to facilitate the smooth transition to the new filling technology.