Dentist recruitment shortage is an emergency that must be addressed

We urgently need more places in dentistry courses and a new focus on making dental treatment accessible for everyone, writes Fintan Hourihan

'Dentists need to see a future for themselves in Ireland, one where they can deliver high-quality care without excessive bureaucracy or inadequate resourcing.'

This year, only 78 places were available in total on dentistry courses across Cork and Dublin. This resulted in places being allocated on a lottery basis, with many students who met very high points standards missing out.

The small number of available places across the country might suggest an existing abundance of practicing dentists in Ireland. In reality, even with the opening of a new RCSI dental school offering 20 new CAO places annually, the opposite is true.