Orthodontists are fully qualified dentists

I WAS interested in your report on the proposed dental factory in Ballylanders, and the reply from Mr Fintan Hourihan of the Irish Dental Association.

In particular, I agree with Mr Hourihan’s assertion that the factory would be quoting competitive Irish prices rather than standard Hungarian prices — this is assuming they plan to operate under the numerous regulations and will be paying the correct national and local charges, rates, taxes etc. Of course, the fact that they will be part-funded by the Irish government (who presently refuse to adequately fund basic dental care) means that this private venture will be able to unfairly under-cut competitive Irish fees.

With regards to their plan to employ dentists to expand the orthodontic services, I assume what was meant was that they would be employing orthodontists to expand the orthodontic services. It might be an opportune time to once again raise the awareness of the public to the fact that, in Ireland, an orthodontist is a fully qualified dentist who has had a minimum of a further three years of full-time postgraduate training and who is registered as an orthodontist by the Dental Council, whose main role is the protection of the public. As such, an orthodontist has the necessary expertise and training to treat all orthodontic cases.