Saturday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" spoke to Maria, a parent, who was surprised to find out she needed to pay the bill for a recent appointment.

"The receptionist said that the Health Insurance Fund had informed them earlier that morning that this year's budget for children's dental care had run out, and free services would be available again starting next year," she told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Dentist Haldja Hambaravi board member Madis Tafenau discovered the problem last month.

"Our capacity is approximately 9,000 children or treatment cases, and the total sum is around €1 million," he told AK. "I noticed in September that the funds were starting to run out. Since our appointments are booked through the end of the year, we had to put the brakes on it."

Tafenau said the situation at the clinic is difficult at the moment. Parents become angry when communicating with administrators.

"For us, the situation is such that we can manage until the end of October, but for the remaining two months, we would need an additional amount in the range of €200,000 to €300,000," he added.

The funding is allocated by the Health Insurance Fund. Marko Tähnas, head of the partnership relations department, said over €49 million was earmarked for children's dentistry in 2024. This is a 46 percent rise over the last two years.

"Our average contract fulfillment rate is 75 percent, which is more or less on track where it should be," said Tähnas.

He said 10 clinics have already exhausted the funding.

In the past, the Health Insurance Fund could hand out more funding, but this is not possible now due to its tighter budget.

The agency is now looking into the possibility of reallocating funding from clinics that have not used all their money.

As the government seeks to make savings to reduce the defect, funding will not increase in the coming years.

"The Health Insurance Fund's budget for the coming years is even tighter than this year's," Tähnas said. "Our shortfall is in the hundreds of millions, and the Health Insurance Fund made several proposals to the government on how to save money. One of these was indeed the subsidy for adult dental care."

Minister of Health Riina Sikkut (SDE) said the government discussed the health fund's proposals a month and a half ago and decided not to cut dental benefits for adults.

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