Dr. Dympna Kavanagh:

We looked at that through the Healthy Ireland survey. We looked at all the different professions providing more general care, for example, with regard to smoking. Results related to pharmacists, dentists and medical doctors but we noticed the contribution from dentists was 20-odd percent. It is about having an integrated approach so that we are all on the same team. This is a key part of the policy and has been mentioned over and over again. We no longer consider ourselves just dentists but as being integrated with the rest of the team. We consider ourselves to be common health professionals like everybody else so we are not stuck in a silo that is only about dentistry. There is considerable evidence from the British and Canadian systems on the advantages and the fact that people, particularly in Great Britain, regard the pharmacy as the best place to receive their oral healthcare advice. While that might not translate to Ireland, there is certainly strong evidence to suggest that this information should come from several different sources. Finland is another example of a country that changed its system. The pharmacy is the first point of contact, which means that if person goes into a health service where the first point of contact happens to be a pharmacist, that pharmacist will guide him or her through the system. We are not saying we will Finland but that it is important that we are part of an overall team and that that team is part of our team as well. We want other health professionals to provide dental advice and for us to participate in supporting obesity, smoking and dietary messages that are important for good health.