Dental scheme a pain in the... tooth

“The public dental system is an absolute nightmare”

“The public dental system is an absolute nightmare,” began Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly on a motion at the November monthly meeting to discuss shortcomings in the national school dentistry service.

Sharing her speaking time with Independent Brendan Fay, Cllr O’Reilly’s motion called for Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, to provide an update on a review of the service he promised as far back as July of this year.

Acknowledging that people with medical cards face particular problems getting dentist appointments, Minister Donnelly described the state of public dentistry in Ireland as “not fit for purpose”.

At the same time Fintan Hourihan from the Irish Dental Association (IDA) also claimed that change is needed, warning that the scheme is “on the brink of collapse” with dentists leaving “in droves” - with more than 300 leaving since 2020.

Cllr O’Reilly said that dentists will claim that cuts imposed by the HSE in 2010 have altered it from a demand-led to a budget-led scheme. “Patients are finding it increasingly difficult to access essential care particularly in the public system with a capacity crisis now across the entire country,” she said.

She went on to say that problems arise when people reach their limit of free fillings, which is when extractions then become an option.

“The scheme is a preventative care scheme, dentists see themselves as doing everything they can to save a tooth, extraction would be the last resort. The reality is that when someone reaches their limit of free fillings, they can opt for an extraction and unfortunately this is what they are doing. They are choosing extractions because they cannot afford to pay privately for necessary fillings.”

The school dentist scheme meanwhile has “also reached crisis point” said Cllr O’Reilly with some students not seeing a dentist until their fourth year in secondary school.

“These children should be seen in second class. Seeing a child at age 15 years by the school dentist for the first time is too late. Early detection improves dental health outcomes. We are now seeing many years of neglect transform what was a poor service into a crisis.”

Cllr Fay’s motion focused more on why the “vital” national school dental service had “ceased with no notice to parents or teachers and no answers from the department”.

He suggested the scheme had simply “run out of money”.

Cllr Fay remembered when he was growing up that to see the dentist at school was an embedded part of the health system.

“This has now collapsed,” he said, highlighting how his own two sons had not yet seen a school dentist. “All this does is create a problem for the ages.”

The motions were supported by Fianna Fáil’s Aidan Fitzpatrick who was happy to report that schools in and around the Cootehill area had access to a dentist. “But we have a dentist,” he acknowledged. “A fabulous service.”

Similarly Independent Shane P. O’Reilly remembered when, for years, Virginia was left without a dentist. “Now the system is flying.”