Dr. Joe Green:

In the current system, if a child or vulnerable adult attends the HSE dental service with symptoms, there would be contact with the clinic or the person often just turns up. We are recording in excess of 70,000 emergency appointments each year. The vast majority of those are children and many are very young at three, four, five or six years old. Many of them are five, six or seven years old. Most of the issues relate to decay in deciduous or baby teeth. With those, treatment can either restore the tooth or perhaps it has to be extracted. If multiple extractions are indicated or infection must be controlled prior to treatment, a course of antibiotics may be indicated. If it is not possible to complete the treatment or if multiple extractions are indicated, that could lead to a referral for treatment under general anaesthetic in one of the hospitals. That happens approximately 7,000 times per year between emergency patients and some patients who have been referred without symptoms but whose treatment is completed under general anaesthesia.