the essential
The mutual dental center opened its doors on January 2, 2025, at the Maison de santé des Deux-Rives, in Valence-d'Agen. The arrival of Luisa Maria Pires de Sousa, a young 24-year-old qualified dental surgeon, will enrich the care offer and will make it possible to better meet the needs of the region.
At the start of the year, the hunt for cavities is open in Valence-d'Agen. A new dental surgeon has taken up her duties, since January 2, 2025, at the mutual dental center installed in premises built and made available by the community of communes of Deux-Rives, in an extension of the multidisciplinary health center.
To create this structure, the Mutualité française de Tarn-et-Garonne hired a young qualified dentist and two dental assistants. At 24 years old, Luisa Maria Pires de Sousa is certainly the youngest dental surgeon in the department, but not the least motivated.
“I am originally from Braga, Portugal. I studied in Lisbon and Coimbra. My brother and my sister-in-law have been living in France for 10 years: with another of my brothers, they run a physiotherapy practice in Moissac, next to the François-Mitterrand high school, so I had the idea of getting closer to them,” she confides.
This Friday, January 3, the mayor of Valence-d'Agen Jean-Michel Baylet, accompanied by his deputy for health and social affairs Dr. Daniel Zanin and the president of the Departmental Union of the French Mutualité Serge Berrié, came pay him a courtesy visit. “Welcome to Valence. It’s a pleasure to welcome you here, because we had a lot of trouble finding a dentist,” says the president of the community of communes of Deux-Rives.
Practical information
The Valence-d'Agen mutual dental center is open Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. By appointment at 05 63 21 70 64. Address: 8 bis boulevard de Torsiac 82 400 Valence-d'Agen.
A response to the shortage of specialists
The former minister moved heaven and earth to make this project a reality, born from a cry of alarm launched by Dr. Laurent Lefebvre, at the head of the only liberal practice of dental surgeons based in Valence-d'Agen. Dr Lefebvre and his four colleagues (two of whom work part-time) were no longer able to meet the demands of patients, due to a drop in the supply of dental care in the west of the department, particularly on the Castelsarrasin-Moissac basin.
This is confirmed by Nathalie Rodié, from Lauzerte, sitting in the waiting room of the new mutual dental center in Valence. “I'm coming to pick up my husband who had an appointment. Before, we consulted in Moissac but our dentist has retired. We will come here from now on. “It's been fifteen years since there was a dentist in Lauzerte”, confirms her husband Jean-Luc.
For Luisa Maria, the appointment book should fill up quickly. “Since yesterday, the phone hasn't stopped ringing. I'm very happy.” She plans to go visit her colleague Dr. Lefebvre, who practices next door, on Avenue Jean-Baylet.
“The advantage is that you have two chairs in this office. We have signed an agreement with the dental faculty of Toulouse so you will have students in their final year that you will train,” Serge Berrié reminds him. These dental surgery interns will be welcomed in the best conditions in Valence: “We will offer them accommodation in the immediate vicinity of the dental center,” confirms Jean-Michel Baylet. The hunt for cavities therefore promises to be under the best auspices in Deux-Rives!
