Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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641. To ask the Minister for Health the actions that his Department intends on taking to address the issue whereby medical card holders in County Clare are unable to access dental treatment. [48195/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. Both I and the Government have been concerned that medical card patients in some parts of the country have been experiencing problems in accessing dental services.

I secured an additional €10 million in Budget 2022 to provide for expanded dental health care for medical card holders, including the reintroduction of Scale and Polish. I am also using an estimated €16 million of an underspend in this year’s estimate allocation (€56 million) to award fee increases across a number of items including fillings and restorations.

Following consultation with the Irish Dental Association, these new measures came into effect on 1st May. The numbers of patients being seen and the numbers of treatments being provided under the DTSS have started to increase in recent months. Patients are also accessing the preventative scale and polish which has been reintroduced, which is a positive development.

In addition, further funding has also been provided in Budget 2023 to assist the HSE in providing care to adult medical card holders who meet the HSE’s criteria for emergency care.

These are interim measures designed to address immediate concerns with the Scheme pending a more substantive reform of dental services. It is my intention that this is addressed in the context of the implementation of the National Oral Health Policy, which sets out a body of substantial services reform. Work is underway to design a governance framework to oversee and facilitate root and branch service reform.