Dr. Anne O'Neill:

The Deputy is not wrong. The reference I would put in is not necessarily to orthodontic care at primary level. Instead, it would be to better dental care for children at younger ages in order to identify any difficulties in their growth patterns, enable earlier intervention and hold onto teeth. Children are losing permanent teeth as part of our school age ranges because we do not have the resources for that type of timely intervention. More than one speaker this afternoon has mentioned that early intervention will reduce long-term costs. The DTSS is probably at the level now where only emergency care is being provided because of the resource implications. Many areas around the country are finding it difficult to do the staged interventions at appropriate age ranges that have been identified as part of the keystones set out in Smile agus Sláinte. We know what we want to have in place for patients. Without those basic stepping stones, we cannot enable the primary care orthodontic provision referenced in the documents.