Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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595. To ask the Minister for Health the amount of funding provided under the medical card scheme for dental treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42399/13]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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596. To ask the Minister for Health the numbers and proportions of medical card holders that avail of the entitlement to a free dental examination each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42400/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 595 and 596 together.

The 2013 budget for the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) is €63m.

The total number of medical card holders (over 16 years of age) at the end of December 2012 was over 1.421 million.

Over 396,000 dental examinations were provided to medical card holders under the DTSS during 2012 i.e. almost 28% of eligible medical card holders availed of the examination.