Published: Wednesday, 16th June, 2010 5:00pm

Cavan dentist sinks her teeth into NI prices

by Sean McMahon

Joanne O'Riordan in her surgery at Church St, Cavan
Pic by==: 97

In order to compete with the dentists in Northern Ireland, Joanne O'Riordan has reduced her prices right across the board for all procedures at her proactive in Church Street in Cavan. "We are now definitely as cheap as any practice in the North, if not cheaper than some," claimed Joanne O'Riordan.She added that they are happy with the financial return in their practice and she simply can't comprehend how some other dentists here in the Republic are charging double her prices for some procedures.

Ms. O'Riordan has a full price list for all procedures on the practice website and she notes that some other dentists are not willing to disclose their prices over the phone or produce a price list.

Joanne says it is only fair to the public to have all fees charged readily available to them. "Everyone is willing to haggle and barter nowadays in this economic climate and the same should apply to dentistry," she said.

Joanne told The Anglo-Celt that for the last number of years medical cards patients were entitled to all routine treatment free of charge including examinations, scale and polishes, dentures, root treatments, fillings and extractions.

"Now at this stage all they are entitled to is emergency treatment, two fillings per year in an emergency situation. They are allowed as many extractions as they wish as extractions are not limited. This is not good for oral health or for the patients in general. We like to save and conserve teeth as much as possible," said Ms. O'Riordan.

Essentially the effect of current government's controls on the medical card scheme means that the people of Ireland can walk around toothless and there will not be any funding under the scheme for dentures.

Joanne has patients on the books who had front teeth extracted in the last few weeks since this law came into effect and they now simply can't afford to have dentures placed.

For example at one point during the so called boom, an implant was costing €2,800 in her surgery and that cost has now been cut to €2,000.

OPG x-rays currently cost €35 at O'Riordan's surgery, while it is reported that it costs double that amount at other locations throughout the country.There are no rules governing dental fees and it is now essentially down to local competition to dictate fees charged.

"We discuss all our prices with the patients when they come in here. I give a professional fee guide to everyone. This avoids people getting a shock when they go to pay at reception of their completed procedures," said Joanne.

Tooth whitening is proving very popular at present and Joanne believes that it should no longer be just an aspiration. Zoom Laser bleaching costs €395 at the practice.

There are two other dentists in the practice - Dr. Frances Little and Dr. Peter Gallagher.

• Log on to www.cavandentist.com for further information.

Return to: Homepage | News Index | This article