Dental staff employed by HSE falls 4%, with 65 roles left vacant

Staff shortage comes as waiting lists and school-screening backlogs grow, Dáil told

The highest number of job vacancies was for dental nurses, where there were 25.3 jobs vacant.

The number of dentists employed by the HSE has fallen by 4% in the last seven years, with more than 65 roles vacant at the start of this year.

Fianna Fáil TD for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Cormac Devlin, who received the figures from the HSE, warned the number of public dental staff was falling as waiting lists and school-screening backlogs have grown.

The figures provided to Mr Devlin confirmed 778 people are working in dental services across the country. This was down from 813 in 2019, a fall of 4% over seven years.

The 2026 figures are up slightly from 2025, when there were 776 people in the HSE dental service. However, it is down from 816 workers in 2023.

In the community healthcare organisation (CHO) which provided care to South-West Dublin, West Kildare and Wicklow, there was no consultant orthodontist in 2023 and 2024. CHOs were later redesigned as health regions.

In 2025, there was still no consultant orthodontist in the HSE Dublin and Midlands area, which serves Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Kildare, and parts of Dublin South and Wicklow. This position remained unfilled in 2026 when these figures were provided to Mr Devlin.

It was also confirmed there were 65.6 job vacancies across the HSE’s dental service at the start of 2026.

This included several jobs where offers had been made to new employees or start dates had been issued.

The highest number of job vacancies was for dental nurses, where there were 25.3 jobs up for grabs.

This included 7.7 dental nurse vacancies in Cork and one in Kerry. There were 6.4 dental nurse roles unfilled in Dublin South City and West.

Anne O’Neill, assistant national director of oral health in the HSE, told Mr Devlin an additional 15 roles had been approved in the HSE’s National Service Plan.

However, Mr Devlin told the Irish Examiner this would not be enough to match the previous workforce number.

“Worryingly, the response back from the minister shows that HSE's own figures reveal fewer public dental staff today than in 2019. The headcount has fallen by around 27 whole-time posts even as waiting lists and school-screening backlogs have grown,” Mr Devlin said.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

“I have been contacted by several families that are waiting for various services. It is imperative that the HSE focuses on recruitment and retention of staff in this area so that the prevention-first dental service model will be successful. But it won’t and can’t be if the workforce to deliver it continues to shrink.”

Sinn Féin is set to call for a “major reform of dental care” during a Dáil motion on Tuesday. It will say there are more than 11,000 people on HSE waiting lists for dental and orthodontic treatment, including braces and dental surgery.