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In Sweden, dental care is carried out in regional operations, public dental care (Folktandvården), or in private practice. The patient is free to choose a public or private care provider. Up to and including the age of 23, all dental care is free of charge for the patient. From the age of 24, there is a state dental care subsidy to limit patient costs. There is free pricing in dental care, both for public and private actors. The article describes more in detail how the dental care support is structured in its various parts. Furthermore, the organization of dental care is presented, and a future perspective. A developed collaboration between dental and medical care and other health care seems increasingly obvious.

The study describes the patient population in private physiotherapy practice in a Norwegian urban community. All private practicing physiotherapists (n=87) in the area were sent a questionnaire and asked to fill in information about their patients per ultimo March 1998. Completed questionnaires were returned by 78 therapists (90 percent) and provided patient description of 3.196 patients. The patients’ sex and age, and the physiotherapist’s primary diagnosis and treatment goal was recorded by the therapist. Two-thirds of the patients had various musculoskeletal disorders. The single most frequent diagnoses were neck and head problems (21.5 percent) and low back and pelvic problems (17.8 percent), 70 percent of the patients were women and 3/4 of the patients were between 24-66 yrs. Statistics revealed that neck/head pain and low back/pelvic pain were the most frequent diagnoses (39.3 percent). Problems related to lack of standardization in terms of diagnoses and age group categorizations, both in this and related studies, are discussed.

Survey of early alcohol  treatment preferences shows higher confidence in face to face meetings Adult men and women (n = 307), working and living in the area of south west Sweden, answered a web based questionnaire where they graded treatment and caregiver preferences while imagining themselves developing an alcohol problem. Alcohol consumption was measured using AUDIT-C. Face-to-face delivered treatment was preferred over telephone or internet based advice. About 53 percent of the men and women considered treatment given by primary health as poor. Only 7,6 percent would prefer help from a health care centre if they were having alcohol problems. Shame and stigma were considered the main obstacles for both seeking and getting help. Despite the availability of effective treatments for early alcohol problems, many avoid seeking help for their problem. This also applies to socially established people. It is important that the health care recognizes and identifies people with less serious problems and offer them treatment.