Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

I am concerned about the whole dental service. There used to be over 1,200 dentists working privately who offered to provide a public service to medical card holders, but that figure has dropped to under 600. Since 2012 or 2013, the number of dentists employed within the HSE has dropped from over 300 to slightly over 250. Even though there has been a huge increase in our population, the number of dentists publicly employed by the HSE is less than it was ten years ago. We need to deal with this issue. Some people are waiting up to five years for orthodontic treatment. This needs to be dealt with by the Department. We need to get our head out of the sand on this matter. I am contacted every week by a huge number of people who cannot get access to dental care for their children. This really needs to be tackled.

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