Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that we must invest in a public dental scheme that will prioritise school screening and medical card holders, including the development of a public-only dentist contract, saying that access to dental care for people with a medical card has collapsed with more than half the dentists having withdrawn from the Dental Treatment Services Scheme.

Speaking in the Dáil last night, Teachta Crowe said:

“Access to timely, effective and affordable dental care is one of the most important guarantees of a good quality of life. Persistent pain from an abscess or tooth decay is one of the most unpleasant and debilitating things a child or adult can go through. A modern healthcare system should make it a top priority. Instead, the Government parties have long abandoned affordable dental services. It is almost entirely privatised now, with the number of dentists directly employed by the HSE dwindling every year.

“This means more than half of children do not get a dental screening in primary school. This is just a basic check-up and we cannot even provide that. This Government does not even know how many dentists are practising in Ireland or how many dental clinics there are. It is completely detached from a vital aspect of healthcare provision in Ireland. The national oral health policy was published in 2019. We still do not have an implementation plan for that policy.

“Access to dental care for people with a medical card has collapsed. More than half the dentists have withdrawn from the medical card scheme, leaving thousands of patients without the care that they need and are entitled to.

“Successive Ministers for Health promised that a breakthrough to fix the scheme was imminent, but it is ordinary people in need of urgent care who are suffering. We must invest in a public dental scheme that will prioritise school screening and medical card holders, including the development of a public-only dentist contract. We must modernise the medical card scheme to guarantee access to care on the basis of need and not on the ability to pay.”