Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The dental medical card scheme is in a state of crisis currently. It was confirmed to me in a reply to a parliamentary question that in the period from September 2020 to September 2021, there have been 33 resignations of dental surgeon contractors from the dental treatment services scheme in my constituency of Laois-Offaly alone. This crisis is mirrored in every single region and county right across this State.

In discussions I had with the Irish Dental Association on Monday, it was confirmed to me that there are only 750 dentists actively treating medical card patients. This is less than half the number of contracts held by dentists up to two years ago. This translates to just one dentist per 2,000 medical card patients. It is extremely worrying. The scheme is entirely unfit for purpose. It is under-resourced and restrictive to the point where patients cannot access the care they need in their local communities. It supports the extraction of teeth, rather than preventative treatments to save teeth. An entirely new scheme is required. That is coming from the people themselves, the dentists who are at the coalface.

There are now also enormous and serious concerns regarding access to dental care for children. Over the past decade, there has been a 30% decline in the number of dentists in the public dental service, despite a 23% increase in the number of eligible under-16s due for assessments. Understaffing of the school screening system means that the number of children being seen for targeted checkups is a fraction of what it should be. It also is alarming that the Irish Dental Association says that its members have been repeatedly denied meaningful engagement with the Department of Health, whether through representation in the development of policy, or constructive engagement in its preparation.

We have been promised reform of the Dentists Act 1985 for more than a decade. The Government needs to give this urgent priority. Will the Department of Health respond positively in the near future to the Irish Dental Association's request, communicated two months ago to the Department, for the appointment of an independent chair and confirmation of a framework for negotiations equivalent to that agreed with the Irish Medical Organisation seven years ago? Will the Taoiseach accept that the current crisis is widening the divide in oral health status according to income levels, thereby prohibiting general dentists from following through on their wish to provide access to essential and routine dental care for all of the community?

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