Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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170. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide the details of funding of dentistry services over the past three years; the percentage that was funded by out-of-pocket payments; and the percentage that was funded by general taxation in each of the said years. [9531/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Consultation fees charged to private patients by dentists are a matter of private contract between the clinicians and the patients. Neither my Department nor the HSE has any details of such payments.

Dental services provided by the HSE span Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Care Services including Acute Hospitals.

The Public Dental Service (PDS) provides emergency, routine and preventive oral health services to children under 16 and people of all ages with special needs. Oral health care is provided to medical card holders by dental practitioners contracted by the HSE under the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS). Orthodontic services, also delivered by salaried dental staff of the HSE, are provided to eligible patients based on the level of clinical need. Oral surgery and maxillofacial surgery is delivered either by secondary or tertiary services.

The following information is available in relation to costs of oral health care.

The base budget for orthodontics is currently €16m per year approximately. This includes some oral surgery and restorative treatment costs. Oral and maxillofacial surgery in most cases forms part of the budget for the setting in which it is provided and cannot be disaggregated.

The HSE has provided revenue funding of €5.98m, €5.80m and €5.63m approximately for 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively to the Dublin Dental Hospital (DDH) in respect of a Service Level Agreement. The DDH has other sources of funding including payment from the HSE for individual items of treatment. The HSE provides approximately €2m to Cork University Dental School and Hospital each year in respect of a Service Level Agreement. Both Dental Schools are also in receipt of funding from the Department of Education and Skills and/or the Higher Education Authority.

Responsibility for the Dental Treatment Benefit Scheme, which provides dental services to insured workers and retired people who have the required number of PRSI contributions, lies with the Minister for Social Protection.