No dental screening for 100k children in 2023

More than 100,000 children were denied primary school screening dental appointments last year, according to the Irish Dental Association (IDA).

It said that despite 208,233 children being eligible for the scheme, only 104,488 were assessed by a public dentist.

A portion of the children were seen for the first time in secondary school.

The association said that Government policy has suggested that primary school children be seen by a dentist in 2nd, 4th and 6th class.

The IDA says the problem is down to a shortage of public dentists, with a 23% fall in public dentist numbers between 2006-2022.

It added that 74 dentists are needed just to get back to 2009 staffing levels.

The association’s Chief Executive Fintan Hourihan said that the HSE was failing in its duty to provide adequate care to patients under the Health Act.

“There is huge uncertainty over the service as the Government appears to be suggesting that children should be seen by private dentists, 90% of whom say the priority should in fact be on rebuilding the public dental service,” he said.

The association is holding its annual conference in Killarney.

In response, the HSE said that children are seen at ages that correspond with dental developmental milestones, to identify opportunities for timely preventive interventions.

It added that an extra 47,806 examinations were undertaken for children who were seen under the emergency dental care programme last year.

The HSE said that the IDA data does not include the provision of dental treatment and/or preventive care provided, following the dental examination.

In this regard, it said that last year, more than 72,000 fillings, 43,000 extractions and 359,000 preventative treatments were provided to patients attending the service.