Irish dentists urge new government to prioritise dental care
The Irish Dental Association is urging new government ministers to prioritise dental care.
Speaking yesterday, IDA Chief Executive, Fintan Hourihan called for all the major political parties to reveal their plans for dental care in the run up to the election. Hourihan highlighted four major crises in the current system, including a total shakeup of the PRSI scheme, which has left thousands of people without comprehensive dental care cover, a reduction in access to emergency dental care, the failure to fill the vacant Chief Dental Officer position and the closure of dental clinics across Ireland.
Dentists have been campaigning against budget cuts, which were introduced last year and had a huge impact on dental care in Ireland. The cuts have affected thousands of people and increased the price of dental treatment significantly. Some dentists have been impacted so severely that they have taken legal action against the Health Service Executive.
Now that the government has announced the election date, dentists are keen to hear the plans for dental care in the future and the IDA has urged parties to make dental care a priority. Mr Hourihan encouraged the new government to consider the budget for dental care very carefully; he claims that 2 million people are being forced to pay higher social insurance charges, despite receiving much less in return thanks to cuts in the PRSI scheme. As a consequence, many people are struggling to afford dental treatment, many are putting off going to the dentist and many are going abroad for treatment because it is now considerably cheaper.
Mr Hourihan also said that 1.2 million medical card holders have also been let down by the government; the card used to entitle them to reduced rate treatment but now they only have access to emergency dental care. The IDA said that the medical cuts were particularly concerning because people who are covered by the scheme are generally from poorer backgrounds and tend to have lower standards of oral health.
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