Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been made aware of a crisis in the public dental service. Along with others, the Irish Dental Association has been calling for additional funding and resources for many years. There are massive issues with the public care system and our nation's dental health is suffering. I met the HSE chief last week and he told me he had specifically omitted dentists from the moratorium. Active recruitment is ongoing, therefore, but there are not enough dentists to fill the roles. We really have to have a focused discussion on this and find a solution.

In County Carlow, I have been talking to representatives of many primary schools, where there are big issues with children being assessed. Teachers at one school told me that the children there have never had a referral to the public dentist. The dental clinic in Carlow is closed for refurbishment and just one dentist covers the entire county, with just two clinics, in Tullow and Bagenalstown, available due to the pandemic. I understand that the pandemic has played a huge role in this, but children who would normally be seen in second and sixth class are now not being seen until fourth class and second year of secondary school, and that is significant. They are missing their check-ups at essential dental-development milestones, and many of the children age out of the primary school model of care, so they are dependent on their parents' means to get them to a dentist and pay for it.

In some dental practices in Carlow, it is very hard even for someone with a medical card to get signed up with a practice because a large portion of dental practices are simply refusing to sign up new patients with a medical card. Moreover, as we all know, a significant number of contracted dentists throughout the country have withdrawn from the dental treatment service scheme, as the Minister of State will be aware. I recently sought by parliamentary question a list of those dentists in Carlow still in the scheme in order that if someone came into my clinic, I could tell them which dentists were available. That was very hard because, according to the reply, there is just one such dentist in Carlow.

Good dental hygiene is essential for everyone. Most oral health conditions are largely preventable and can be treated if caught at an early stage, but we are not getting that.

More people I talk to tell me they travel abroad for dental care because they feel our system is broken. That is worrying. I wish to ask about the existing medical card entitlements, which are limited in what a patient is entitled to, if they can even find a dentist. The area of orthodontic care is expensive in private practice. The medical card programme only covers patients with front tooth problems. It does not cover molars, some of the most important teeth in a person's mouth, used particularly for chewing food. There are huge issues in the system, which is worrying. It is across the country. We must make sure young children are being assessed at an early age in primary schools. That is crucially important.

See this speech in context