Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann-Comhairle for allowing me this opportunity to speak about orthodontic treatment in the Health Service Executive's southern region.

I raise this matter to highlight the plight of the thousands of young people in the southern region who are being denied orthodontic treatment within a reasonable timeframe. In some situations people are waiting up to three years for assessment and a further number of years before they receive treatment. It is wholly unacceptable that parents and young children are required to wait for so long.

Without a doubt the issue of orthodontic services has been debated ad nauseam in various committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas, including the Joint Committee on Health and Children which heard from experts on the issue in 2002 and 2005. However, we seem to have an unfortunate problem in Cork in that the HSE seems unable to provide to our young people there the services that are provided in the rest of the country. It is time to address the issue in a serious and professional manner.

I am not quite sure what the problems in Cork are but Dr. Ian O'Dowling, the consultant orthodontist in St. Finbarr's Hospital, has highlighted on numerous occasions, both privately to political representatives and openly to the public at large, that insufficient resources are being made available. A lack of training facilities has resulted in the region being unable to provide orthodontic services. Given that we have a dental training hospital attached to the Cork University Hospital, I feel we should take the opportunity to explore that as an avenue for addressing the problem. We need to ensure that the university hospital has the resources to provide adequate training and upskilling to ensure we can deliver services to those who most need them.

Dr. O'Dowling told Cork's Evening Echo:

In the past two weeks I received a call from a teenage girl's mother who said her daughter is suffering from depression and is on anti-depressants, as she is being bullied at school over her teeth.

Like Dr. O'Dowling, as a public representative over the past 14 years I have received similar phone calls from parents who, in exasperation, have gone to a private provider simply because their son or daughter has suffered psychologically — either by being bullied and intimidated at school or because they have low self-esteem — because they have been unable to receive proper orthodontic care.

I hope the Minister will convey to the Minister for Health and Children my genuine belief that, rather than engage in finger pointing, we need to resolve the issue. I do not know what the difficulties are in Cork, but there have been difficulties. Dr. O'Dowling has stated his case. Although appointments have been made to the dental hospital, those have been short term and we are still left with only one consultant orthodontist. It is time that we made a serious decision to address the chronic problems of orthodontic care in the former Southern Health Board region.

Some might say orthodontics is unimportant but some people have severe dental problems for which surgery is required, such as disproportionality of the jaw and crowding of teeth. All those issues create great problems for the individual concerned.

It is not good enough that we have 4,000 people waiting for assessment and another awaiting 3,500 treatment. Particularly when children are vulnerable, forming their identity, or going through their teenage years, this issue is of paramount importance. It affects their mental and physical well-being socially and in school with regard to dental and oral hygiene. I hope the Minister can take back my message that we must address this issue quickly.

I have already mentioned the fact that we have a dental hospital. Training is very important there. If patients were treated there it would facilitate the upskilling of those providing the treatment. If there is an issue regarding St. Finbarr's — and Dr. Ian O'Dowling says that he is the only consultant orthodontist — an appointment should be made immediately to assist and help him in addressing those problems. He has commented publicly on numerous occasions. I do not know who was right or wrong, but I know that thousands of children in the former Southern Health Board region are suffering because of the lack of orthodontic services. That is wholly unacceptable.

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