Poor people will suffer most from dental cuts

I HAVE conducted an admittedly very small survey to see if other people had drawn the same conclusions as I had about the medical card cuts in the area of dentistry.

They seemed to agree that:

*Not allowing dentists to carry out preventive cleaning work would seriously worsen the general situation within a year.

*Many people would rather not have teeth out and might end up trying to pay for a filling at the expense of eating properly or other necessities of life. This would lead to different health problems within a year or so that would affect an already collapsing heath service.

*Hundreds of people who could not afford dental work would eventually decide to attend A&E departments when the pain got too bad. However, A&E departments are not qualified to carry out dental work.

*Small dental practices, especially in poorer areas, will have to close, perhaps even this year. Staff, especially in the area of dental hygiene, are already lengthening the dole queues.

At this point, nobody was quite clear exactly how it would progress, but it was obvious that, like almost every action of this stunningly incompetent government, the situation will worsen fast. It will end up costing more than they saved and it will be the poorest among us who suffer most.

Dick Barton

Kevin Street

Tinahely

Co Wicklow