Professor Leo Stassen:

The dental school has three remits: one is to educate our new dentists, the second is to provide a treatment service and the third is research. In the provision of a service, the service has to reflect what the postgraduate and undergraduate training requires; therefore, a dental school is limited in the service it can provide in whatever area it be, whether special needs, extractions or periodontics. The waiting list in the Dublin dental school is closed for most services unless it can fit within the area of undergraduate and postgraduate education or research needs. The service commitment from a dental hospital or dental school is small and, therefore, it is not surprising that waiting lists are very long.