Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle, as ucht as ligean dom an cheist thábhachtach seo a thógáil.

Health is very important and should be a priority but dental health is an intrinsic and very important part of the health equation for most people. It is well testified that where people do not look after their dental health, there are detrimental effects on their well-being. The reality is that the medical card dental scheme is falling apart. County Galway has a population of approximately 300,000, so we can guess that there are approximately 100,000 medical card holders. There are 24 dentists in the scheme and they obviously have a large number of private patients. Each of those dentists has to cover 4,166 medical card patients in addition to private patients. That is clearly impossible and, therefore, we have a huge challenge. In our constituency clinics, we meet all the time people with medical cards who cannot access routine, but vital, medical treatment. The reality in such cases is that many people wind up getting teeth extracted. The options when that happens are either very expensive or not very good. Taking modern dental practice into account, they are certainly suboptimal.

I recently got a heartbreaking letter from the Galway Advocacy Council. This group is supported by fáilte community services in the Brothers of Charity. This group mainly deals with people with disabilities. They said - they are people with a disability - about their experience with the dental services that if you have not seen a dentist in a year, you will drop off their books. People have to go to Shantalla clinic, which is the public clinic, for extreme emergencies to be seen because they are in pain.

Dentists are looking for bank details ahead of appointments. What is the point in having a medical card? Dental services have got worse in the past 20 years, certainly for people dependent on a medical card. Do dentists want to deal with medical card holders? Is there a lot of paperwork? People should not have to suffer or be in pain. It is wrong. Any of us who have suffered from daitheachaí or dental pain, toothache, know how excruciating it can be. What is going on in the country? That is a valid question. At a time when there is unprecedented wealth, a simple service such as a medical card dental service does not seem to exist in any meaningful fashion. People have lost interest in going to the dentist due to a lack of appointments for medical card holders and not having any money to go privately. They are losing their teeth, their smiles and their confidence and it is also affecting their health.

I beg the Minister of State - it is unfortunate that the Minister for health and no Minister of State from the Department of Health was available - and hope that he will carry the message back, that there is a crisis in the provision of dental services for medical card holders and to see a dentist privately is unaffordable.

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