10,000 children a year hospitalised to extract teeth

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) has claimed that up to 10,000 children per year are being hospitalised for dental extractions because they are not being detected and treated early enough.

The association said the number of under-15s having to be hospitalised is a “national disgrace” and is “an indictment of the slash and burn policy of the previous and current government to oral health policy”.

It said the rate of hospitalisations could be up to five times higher than in Britain.