What public healthcare covers for adult teeth and gums

Key rules

• Routine care: Routine adult dental care, including cleanings and orthodontics, is private.
• Regional extras: Some regions add dental care for specific groups, but there is no national right to it.
• Children: The broader public dental programme is mainly for children, not adults.
• Urgent problems: Pain, infection and urgent extractions are the cases where you can use public care.

Regional dental programmes and who qualifies change, so confirm what applies to you with your community's health service or your centro de salud before relying on it.

The short answer

For adults, public healthcare covers only basic dental care: advice, treatment of acute pain and infection, and urgent extractions. Fillings, root canals, crowns, implants and dentures are paid privately. Plan on using a private dentist for routine care.

What you can get on the public system

• Advice and health education. Your health centre can give you guidance on looking after your teeth and gums.
• Treatment of acute problems. This means infection, pain or trauma, including urgent medication.
• Urgent extractions. A tooth or root can be removed when it is needed.
• Basic checks. An examination is usually part of this basic care.

Start at your local centro de salud (primary-care health centre). Ask for an appointment for the problem, or go to urgent care if the pain is severe.

What you will pay for privately

Expect to pay yourself for fillings, root canals, crowns, orthodontics, implants and dentures. Routine cleanings are generally private for adults too. The broader public dental programme is mainly for children, so it will not help you as an adult.

Extra cover in some regions

Spain's regions run their own health services, and some add services for certain adults. This is not a national right, and it differs a lot from one region to another. Groups that some regions include:

• People with disabilities or special needs.
• Pregnant women.
• People with HIV.
• Cancer patients, including those having head and neck radiotherapy.
• People with diabetes or other medical conditions, and transplant candidates.
• In some places, older people or people at risk of exclusion.

What you get ranges from check-ups and cleanings to fillings or dentures. The Basque Country, Navarra, Cantabria and Andalucía are among the regions with wider programmes. Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Asturias and Canarias run programmes for people with disabilities or specific conditions. Eligibility conditions usually apply, and no region covers all adults for everything.

How to check what your region offers

Ask at your centro de salud whether your region has a dental programme for your situation. The regional lookup below lists where to ask, including your community's health service and its citizen information line. If you need work done that is not covered, get a written quote from a private dentist before you agree to treatment.

Find your region's dental, eye and mental health programmes

Where to find your region's programmes

• Your community's health service (for example SAS in Andalucía, CatSalut in Catalonia, SERMAS in Madrid, Osakidetza in the Basque Country): Search its website or call its helpline for the list of health centres, urgent care points, mental health units and any dental programmes in your community.

• INGESA, the national health service for Ceuta and Melilla: Use it instead of a regional health service if you live in Ceuta or Melilla.

• Your local centro de salud (primary-care health centre), admissions desk: Ask how to get your tarjeta sanitaria (health card) and which documents your community wants, such as proof of empadronamiento (municipal registration), passport or NIE, and proof of residence or social security status.

• Your community's general citizen information line (many use 012, some use another number): Ask which regional health department covers your question, and ask for the answer by email or in writing.

• Your town hall (ayuntamiento): Ask for your empadronamiento certificate and for local health information.

• The Seguridad Social office (INSS): Ask here if your question is about national eligibility, such as social security registration or the S1 form.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a professional cleaning on the public system?

Usually not, because routine cleanings are generally paid privately for adults. Some regions include cleanings for specific groups, such as people with disabilities or certain medical conditions. Ask your centro de salud whether your community offers this.

Which adults can get extra public dental care in some regions?

Some regions extend care to people with disabilities, pregnant women, people with HIV, cancer patients, people with diabetes and transplant candidates.

Does every region offer more than the basic adult dental care?

No, extra adult dental cover is not available everywhere and is never universal for all adults. The Basque Country, Navarra and Cantabria have wider programmes, and Andalucía offers dentures for certain groups.