Review of dental services call for urgent reform of Dental Treatment Service Scheme for medical card holders
The medical card scheme is ‘haemorrhaging’ dentists, with less than half of eligible children receiving a dental screening before leaving primary school, a review of services has said.
The Report on Dental Services in the Healthcare System by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health makes 19 recommendations for reform, including that the Department of Health immediately enters talks with dentists to replace the current Dental Treatment Service Scheme for medical card holders.
“The Joint Committee on Health has been concerned for some time about the deepening crisis in dental services,” said Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Pádraig Rice said.
“The national oral health policy, ‘Smile agus Sláinte’, was published in 2019 – the overarching aim of which was to move away from an outdated curative care model to a preventative care and health promotion model.
“We are still waiting on an implementation plan, seven years after the national oral health policy was published.
He added: “There has been little improvement since 2019, in fact, the situation has deteriorated. Too many children are leaving primary school without ever having had a dental screening. In 2023, fewer than 104,000 children were screened out of an eligible cohort of 208,000.
“The structure and funding of our public dental services have been badly neglected for far too long, and the inadequacies of the service are evidence of that. Urgent action is required without further delay, and there is need for clear commitment from the Minister for Health to address this matter.”
Other recommendations made by the Committee include the development of a strategic dental workforce plan to ensure that enough dentists and allied professionals such as dental hygienists are available to meet current and future needs.
They also propose that the role of dental hygienists, dental nurses and other allied dental healthcare professionals should be expanded to allow them to deliver appropriate elements of care that do not require a dental surgeon referral or supervision.
The Irish Dental Association (IDA) welcomed the report. In a statement the union said: “Today must mark the end of the decades long neglect of oral health and the start of a new commitment on the part of Government to make investment in oral health and reform of archaic schemes and legislation a top priority.”
The IDA has previously warned of the decline public dental services, long-term workforce constraints and the lack of training places for prospective dentists across the country.
The union’s statement added: “As we approach the publication of the long-awaited National Oral Health Policy Implementation Plan, this report supports our view that significant investment is required to achieve meaningful reforms which offer sufficient access, coverage and quality of care to the general population, particularly those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Hundreds of thousands of patients cannot afford further delays to comprehensive oral healthcare reforms.”
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said her department and the HSE are currently developing an Oral Health Action Plan that will include a two-year programme to improve services.
She added that stakeholder engagement is ongoing, and the plan will take into consideration the recommendations made by the Committee in their report.
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