Dentists have claimed ‘shocking’ new figures which reveal 84,000 children and teenagers from all over the country are awaiting dental assessment or treatment, underestimate the scale of the problem and have called for the appointment of 100 new dentists over next two years
The new HSE figures, published by RTE, also show the the regions with the longest waiting lists are the south east, the border region and the midlands.
The Irish Dental Association described the figures as shocking.
Dr Gillian Smith, a spokesperson for the IDA said that due to delays in assessments children are ending up in pain, with swelling and infection, being put on repeated courses of antibiotics, needing operations under general anaesthetic and missing school.
The figures were highlighted by Fianna Fail health spokesperson, Stephen Donnelly under a parliamentary question.
The Chief Executive of the IDA, Fintan Hourihan said that while the figures are a disgrace, they probably underestimate the scale of the problem.
“The waiting lists provided by the HSE focus mainly on the young people waiting for treatment after they have been assessed. However, there are thousands more waiting to be assessed for possible dental treatment.”
“These figures won’t come as a surprise to anyone who is aware of the lack of resources which the Public Dental Service has been forced to contend with. While the number of children eligible for treatment has increased by 20% over the past decade, the numbers of dentists employed by the HSE has fallen by 20%.
"As a result, waiting lists have just got longer and longer, children are being put through unnecessary pain and distress while the state has to pay the cost of remedial treatment. Very often this is seven to eight times higher than preventive care”
“We are calling for the appointment of 100 extra public dental surgeons over a two-year time frame to tackle these lists and the immediate publication by the Department of Health of a new oral health strategy – a strategy which the Department refused to consult with us on.”
“The current medical card scheme is unfit for purpose and needs to be replaced as soon as possible, while new dental contract talks and reform of tax reliefs for dental care for adults and children also need to be implemented urgently.
"Without these changes, children and adults will continue to suffer unnecessarily from dental disease” Mr Hourihan concluded.
