Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

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. In May 2022, the Scheme was extended to include Scale and Polish for all medical card patients along with an expansion of the oral examination to include provision of preventative advice, using €10 million awarded in Budget 2022. In addition, the fees paid to contractors were increased by 40-60% across most treatment items. Both the numbers of patients and treatments have been increasing since the measures were introduced in May 2022.

The Government recognises that substantive reform of the DTSS is required, as set out in the National Oral Health Policy, Smile agus Sláinte. My Department is working closely with the HSE to ensure the establishment of focused structures to drive implementation of the Policy. These implementation structures will include establishment of leadership functions in the HSE. In that context, the design and establishment of the necessary leadership and implementation structures is a key objective in the HSE’s National Service Plan for 2023.