Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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672. To ask the Minister for Health the measures she will enact to ensure patients who are aged-out of childhood dental services due to excessive waiting lists maintain their entitlement, that their treatment regime is uninterrupted, that their waiting time is taken into account when they are moved to the adult waiting list; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9233/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The HSE Oral Healthcare Service aims to provide an oral examination and necessary treatment for children at ages approximating to second and sixth class and, in some cases, fourth class. Emergency care is provided for children of all ages up to 16.

The HSE’s child oral health examination programme has been impacted by capacity challenges in recent years and I acknowledge that we need to do more. In Budget 2025, an additional €2m in funding, increasing to €4m in 2026, was provided to continue implementation of the National Oral Health Policy (NOHP) and improve access to existing community services in our HSE dental and orthodontic clinics. This investment is providing an additional 15 HSE dental staff nationally to deliver oral healthcare in our community, including supporting children to access the current primary school programme of routine check-ups.

When patients turn 16, if they are a medical card holder then they are entitled to access the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS). The DTSS is a choice-of-dentist scheme which does not require the patient to register with a particular dentist and enables medical card holders to attend any DTSS contractor (a dentist or clinical dental technician) directly without recourse to the HSE. The DTSS is free at point of access for medical card patients over the age of 16, and the contractor submits a claim to the HSE for direct payment for treatment provided under the terms of the contract. The HSE does not hold waiting lists in relation to the DTSS, but does assist patients to identify DTSS dentists in their locality.

A package of measures was introduced in 2022 to expand the care available under the Scheme and significantly increase the fees paid to contractors. These measures have improved access to care: payments for contractor claims in 2024 show 227,691 additional treatments were provided nationally under the DTSS, with over 44,208 extra patients treated when compared with 2022.

In the longer-term, the NOHP sets out a complete transformation of oral healthcare services and expansion of the care available for both children and adults. Children will be supported to access a local general dental practice from birth and will be able to remain with their chosen practice throughout their childhood. For those who have a medical card, once they turn 16 they will continue to access care, free of charge, at a local practice under a reformed DTSS.

An implementation plan for the first phase of rollout to end-2027 is being finalised between my Department and the HSE and contains development of new services for children and for adults as initial priorities.