Four-year delays on child dental care

THOUSANDS of children have been waiting for braces and corrective dental treatment for more than four years because of a critical shortage of orthodontists, it has emerged.

Some health boards report that they have been finding it very difficult to recruit such specialists.

Orthodontists are not covered by the stricken PRSI payments scheme, which was withdrawn by the Government this week as a long-term row over payment levels escalated.

Patients for corrective dental treatment are usually assessed at the age of 12-13 years, but in the Western and Southern Health Board regions the current waiting list is an average of four years long, which means that children are 15-16 before they begin treatment.

It has been claimed that some parents, tired of waiting, have been taking out loans to pay for expensive private treatment.

In the SHB region, which includes Cork and Kerry, more than 10,500 children are currently waiting for either assessment or treatment.

Board member, Deputy Bernard Allen, said a crisis situation was developing and he called for the immediate appointment of additional orthodontists.

“At this stage, many people are giving up hope of ever having their children treated,’’ he said.

However, there’s a far better situation in the Kilkenny-based South Eastern Hotel Board area where the waiting list for treatment is 445 and the average waiting time is less than a year.

The SHB received 720,000 from the Department of Health to pay for private treatment for patients on the waiting list and, according to the SHB deputy general manager, Gerry O’Dwyer, discussions are at an advanced stage with a private orthodontist.

“If this scheme goes ahead, it will be made available to those waiting the longest,’’ he said.

In the Southern Health Board region, for instance, funding was made available last year for employ two consultant orthodontists, one for Cork and one in Kerry, but there was only one successful applicant who opted for Cork.

The Kerry post has since been re-advertised.

Approaches have also been made to private orthodontists in the Kerry area, but they have been unable to take up the offer of work, according to the board.

Patients are referred through the school dental scheme to a consultant orthodontist who then assesses them for treatment.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said differences in waiting times between the health boards were due to “local factors” and that additional funding of 6.729m had been allocated for Orthodontic services last year.

“The department is confident that the measures that have been taken have already positively impacted on the orthodontic services by increasing the numbers in treatment and will reduce waiting times for treatment in the medium to long term,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the stalemate is continuing in the row between the Department of Social and Community Affairs and dentists over PRSI dental payments which apply to over a million patients.

The dispute saw the department cancel all payments to dentists for PRSI covered treatments until they agree not to charge patients more than the rates agreed within the scheme.

The Irish Dentists Association maintains that dentists cannot survive without an increase in the rate paid by the Government. Yesterday a spokesperson for the Department of Social and Community Affairs, which administers the scheme said: “So long as the dentists are not honouring their contract we’re not doing business with them.”