Dr. Caroline Robins:

We agree with that and we know it is the case. The beauty of the public dental service, if it were properly resourced and funded, is that it is targeted. All children, regardless of who they are, where they are in the county and their economic position, would be offered an appointment. In private practice, I see children whose parents bring them in to me regularly for checkups, cleaning and preventative treatment. However, there will always be a percentage of parents who will not do that. Our concern is that pushing children aged zero to seven into private practice will see us run into this problem. We are losing the lovely targeting that gets to every single child. If provision goes private, there will always be parents who will not take their children to a dentist or may not be in a position to take them. We have a wonderful system made up of clinics and excellent clinicians who are well versed in looking after children. The public scheme, if funded properly and given adequate capacity, provides an excellent service to every single child.