Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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635. To ask the Minister for Health the 2008 and current average waiting time for orthodontic treatment, broken down by Health Service Executive area. [23764/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The HSE provides orthodontic treatment to those who have been assessed and referred for treatment before their 16th birthday. It should be noted that the nature of orthodontic care means that immediate treatment is not always desirable. It is estimated that in up to 5% of cases it is necessary to wait for further growth to take place before treatment commences. Patients are assessed by the HSE Orthodontic Service under the modified Index of Treatment Need. Patients with the greatest level of need i.e. Grade 5 or Grade 4 are provided with treatment by the HSE. Information on waiting times is collated by the HSE by region rather than by county and for the intervals as shown below. The information on waiting times for treatment for Quarter 1 of 2015 is as follows:

There are no comparable figures for waiting times for 2008 as the current method of collating waiting times was introduced in 2013. Waiting list figures for Quarter 4 of 2008 were as follows: