Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last month, which is not as long ago as it sounds, the Irish Dental Association met for its annual general meeting, AGM. It highlighted pressing concerns facing the industry here and called for Government intervention in key areas in need of reform. Top of that list is the need for the overhaul of the dental treatment service scheme, the HSE-managed scheme which offers medical card holders free routine dental care from contracting private dental practitioners.

Leading practitioners have said the current scheme is not fit for purpose and does not reflect modern dental practices and standards. As few as 30% of the dentists operating in the country remain in the scheme, which is testament to the issues that remain unresolved. Chief among these is the red-tape rules which dentists must follow to treat medical card patients and the limited materials they can use while treating medical card patients. Removing these restrictions would allow dentists the freedom and autonomy to treat patients as necessary according to their needs and offer medical card patients the same standard of care as private patients. While the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has been made aware of this and has implemented some changes, the Irish Dental Association maintains that these will be no more than a band aid for the current scheme which must be wholly reformed if it is to meet the needs of dentists and patients alike. This is a very serious issue which we need to raise with the Minister to get clarity for the Irish Dental Association.