Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important. First of all, it is fundamental to children at school because of all the places they must go throughout their school life. Very often, coming to the end of their school life, they may still not have had access to treatment that was required five to ten years previously. I ask that a means be found to have children in need of orthodontic treatment examined systematically by one means or another.

One does not need to be an expert to conclude on looking at a person, regardless of whether he or she smiles, that he or she could have done with a little orthodontic treatment or treatment of some other kind a long time ago. From casual observation, I believe this is not the case in other jurisdictions to the same extent, although it does feature in many places.