Dental politics and subsidy systems for adults in Sweden from 1974 until 2016

AIMS: The dental health sector, as part of the Swedish welfare system, originated in 1974. Since then, the dental insurance has undergone three major changes. The aim of this archive study was to study where in the legislative process the dental politics concerning national dental insurance and subsidies were formed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The material, such as Commission of inquiry proposals and Government Bills from four major dental reforms, was collected from the library at the Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) and was analysed and structured using a modified version of the Health Field Model. RESULTS: The views on the fundamental ideas, such as the connection between general and dental health, preventive dentistry, rehabilitation of the mouth and promotion of dental health, were the same over the years. The views on dentistry as a market, when it comes to freedom of prices, have undergone a major change since 1974, but the view on the welfare state remains the same. CONCLUSIONS: The Swedish dental subsidy systems and how dentistry has been treated politically are the results of a chain of events ranging from care for the population's dental health, political doctrines, ‘zeitgeist‚, dental policy, to state finances.