Dental care denial - A new low for healthcare

UNBELIEVABLE is the only word to describe the State’s denial of dental treatment to thousands of adults with intellectual disability because of cutbacks.

The southern region of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has stopped providing dental services under general anaesthetic to intellectually disabled adults. Apparently, tooth extractions are the only exception to a move attributed to funding shortages. The Cope Foundation, which provides educational and training facilities to about 1,600 disabled people, has slammed the decision as an “attack on the rights of a vulnerable group”.

Parents and carers of people with disability already have enough problems without having an extra burden foisted on them. This deals a further blow to the image of the HSE, which is already mired in such crises as the life-threatening cancer misdiagnosis, a TB controversy, the nursing dispute and the row with consultants. The denial of dental treatment for intellectually disabled people marks a new low.