Children hit by lack of dental resources following government's plan

Children in Cork are bearing the brunt of a new public dental policy imposed due to “staffing and resource” issues, it has been claimed.

HSE dental surgeons in Cork were told last month that second-class school screening and orthodontic extractions must be placed on a “lower priority” until the “resource issue” was addressed.

“If parents of children in second class enquire about screening appointments explain that due to available resources, we are currently prioritising sixth class,” advises a circular.

The order of priority for dental services is emergency treatment for children up to the age of 16, patients with special needs, and sixth-class school screening.

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) found that some children in Cork needing teeth extractions are being triaged for specialist care, with some having to wait 30 months to be seen.

Chief executive Fintan Hourihan said that increasing numbers of children throughout the country are only being offered examination and dental care for the first time at sixth class.

“This has now been confirmed as policy in Cork, which joins many other parts of the country in this regard,” he said.

When you have children being seen that late, it is going to mean, ultimately, that their oral health will suffer. They are going to have more extractions and fillings because they are meeting the dentist far too late.

Mr Hourihan said that the situation in Cork was made worse by not replacing a specialist oral surgeon who was on maternity leave.

“What you are seeing now in Cork is what happens when you don’t replace dentists who retire or leave,” he said. “Services are being cut back and there are longer waiting lists.”

Mr Hourihan warned that the IDA would ballot for industrial action if the HSE made unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of HSE dentists.

At the annual IDA seminar for HSE dental surgeons in Portlaoise, Mr Hourihan said there had been a decrease of up to 23% in dentists employed by the HSE for school screening in the last ten years.

IDA members are also seriously concerned about the promise of free dental care to children under the age of six in Budget 2020.

Mr Hourihan said the Government wanted to expand the provision of care for children using independent dental practices while failing to adequately invest in the public dental health service.

Health Minister Simon Harris said he wanted to give an assurance that the public dental health service would not be run down.

“What we are actually trying to do here is utilise all of the capacity that we have in dental services,” he said.

Mr Harris and his officials intend discussing the way forward with dentists.

“We will have to sit down with the dentists,” said Mr Harris. “We will have to make sure they are properly resourced and negotiate a fee. And all of that will happen before we introduce free dental care for children under six at the start of the next school year.”