Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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199. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of increasing funding to the public dental service to bring it to a position to which it can deliver its remit in full. [26065/17]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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200. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of introducing free dental care for the general population. [26066/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 200 together.

Dental services for children up to 16 years of age and persons of all ages with special needs are provided by the Public Dental Service of the HSE through its dental clinics. This includes emergency services and referral as appropriate to children under 6. A targeted fissure sealant programme is provided for children aged 6 to 8 and 11 to 13 (usually 2nd and 6th class in primary school). In addition, a screening programme is provided for these age groups with necessary interventions for permanent teeth including fillings and extractions. Children aged 9-11 may receive a screening and necessary interventions where resources allow. The provision of these dental services is in line with the Dental Health Action Plan, published in 1994. Annual expenditure on the Public Dental Service has been approximately €60 million in recent years. A breakdown by year was provided to the Deputy in response to a Parliamentary Question (Ref. 15138/16) on 7 June 2016.

The Dental Treatment Service Scheme provides access to dental treatment for medical card holders over the age of 16. All medical card holders are entitled to specific dental treatments, including an annual dental examination. Last year almost 1.2 million treatments were provided to over 460,000 patients at a cost of €63.2 million.

The Dental Treatment Benefit Scheme, for which the Minister for Social Protection is responsible, provides an annual dental examination to insured workers and retired people who have the required number of PRSI contributions. It has recently been further extended to some 450,000 self-employed people and their dependent spouses for the first time. Later this year some of the most popular treatment benefits available through PRSI, including scale and polish, will also be restored.

The cost of increasing the level of service provided by the HSE or introducing of free dental care for the general population would depend on a number of factors, including the underlying oral health of the population, the way in which such a service would be provided, the level of service that would be provided, and the likely level of take-up of such services. Therefore it is not possible to provide the estimated cost as requested. The National Oral Health Policy which is being led by the Chief Dental Officer in the Department will inform future provision of dental services. It will take account of commitments in the Programme for Government and have regard to the funding available to facilitate such measures.