Lack of funds denies disabled children dental treatment

HUNDREDS of physically and intellectually disabled children cannot get dental treatment because of the lack of Government funding.

Dublin Dental Hospital chief executive Brian Murray said disabled children need to be treated under general anaesthetic but priority seems to be given to funding orthodontic treatment instead.

“We seem to be more concerned about having straight shiny teeth than caring for the physically and intellectually disabled people who cannot get dental care,” Mr Murray said.

He will tell the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children today that while there are long waiting lists for orthodontic treatment, it is only one small aspect of dentistry.

Orthodontics is not a dental disease and demand for it way outstrips the need, according to Mr Murray.

In the past two years the Department of Health has given health boards €9.69 million for the purchase of orthodontic treatment for public patients.

But the Dublin Dental Hospital cannot get any funding to provide special treatment for the physically and intellectually disabled, according to Mr Murray.

These patients cannot be treated in a regular dental surgery because they need to be put under a general anaesthetic to receive treatment. The Dublin Dental Hospital cannot get the funding to secure these services.