Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

Before I speak to the Adjournment matter I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Seán Connick, to the House. It is my first opportunity to congratulate him publicly on his elevation to Minister of State and I wish him well. He will do his very best for the people of Wexford and the south east and I, as a fellow parliamentarian from the south east, look forward to working with him over the coming years to try to achieve what is best for that region.

I raise this matter on the Adjournment because I have heard from quite a few people that there is a lot of concern about the provision of adequate funding for the dental treatment services scheme. I understand more than €63 million was allocated for the previous two years, despite the fact that there has been a large increase in the number of medical card holders. There has been much higher demand for basic dental treatments, such as fillings, root canal treatment and other preventative treatments. My understanding is the HSE has recommended that only emergency treatments can be carried out under the scheme in future owing to the lack of funding. Perhaps the Minister of state can clarify this. Emergency treatments are extractions and antibiotics must be provided. However, no reference is made to preventative treatments such as fillings and root canals.

This policy will result in an increase in dental decay, which in turn will lead to increased costs for the health service in the future. People will lose their teeth rather than benefitting from preventative treatments. This will affect many medical card holders and dentists will be put in an unfortunate position. I cannot understand how the HSE or the Minister can ask any dentist in his or her professional capacity to prioritise patients, thereby ignoring the tooth decay being experienced by some patients, and to extract teeth rather than carry out preventative treatment. That would be a retrograde step and it would equate to professional negligence in the extreme if dentists were asked to do this.

Medical card holders will suffer most, especially children and special needs patients who find it difficult to access treatment under the current scheme. This is an important matter because tooth decay cannot only be addressed by extracting a tooth. There are consequences if inadequate provision is made to address tooth decay and oral hygiene. Other more serious health issues can arise if tooth decay is not dealt with at any early stage. Given all the advances made in dental health, this proposal would be a backward step and we could return to the standards of the 1950s, which would be a sorry outcome. It will also mean there will be increased demand on professional services in our hospitals if people experience complications as a result of tooth decay. This will create backlogs in hospitals and HSE clinics.

Will the Minister of State clarify the position on the scheme? People, especially those with medical cards, are concerned that if they cannot access preventative treatment through their dentist, the economy could be further burdened by the need, for example, to provide dentures and to address other serious health issues as a consequence of tooth decay. I hope the Minister of State has good news for medical card holders and he might reassure them that they will be able to access the service they deserve from their local dentist. They have developed good services over many years and by carrying out early prevention measures, they can address further tooth decay while stabilising the dental hygiene of their patients, thus preventing further problems.