Families being priced out of dental care, says Sherlock

New and up to date information released to Marie Sherlock TD, Labour Party Spokesperson on Health, by way of parliamentary questions has highlighted the state of public dentistry in Ireland.

The number of dentists participating in the dental treatment services scheme has dropped by almost 40% (38.4%) in just the last five years from 1,354 to 833 currently.  The number of dentists in all dental grades employed by the HSE at the end. 2024 was just 249, down by a third from 330 in 2009.

Most tellingly, just 46.2% of primary school children have attended a dental appointment.

“An analysis of data provided by the HSE to my office confirms what many of us already know: that dental services are becoming increasingly inaccessible, particularly for children and for those with medical cards,” Sherlock said.

“The cost of going to the dentist is prohibitive to many receiving timely treatment. No longer are people just terrified of the procedure, they’re terrified of the cost. Public dental services are being allowed to whittle away in complete favor of private provision of dental care. This is leaving those with lower incomes behind.”

“My office recently conducted an analysis of the up-to-date figures on the Dental Treatment Services Scheme, the number of HSE dentists, and the number of children getting to see a community dental services.

“It is clear public dentistry is being allowed to collapse in Ireland under the watch of this Government.

The Dublin Central TD noted, “an analysis of the data provided by the HSE shows that the number of dentists participating in the dental treatment services scheme has dropped by 38.4% in just the last five years from 1,354 to 833 currently. The HSE stated in its response to me that these dentists have limited capacity to take on new patients.”

“This will impact those on the lowest incomes the most. And it will mean that people will ensure pain or forgo care. And I am deeply concerned that the numbers of dentists on the DTSS will continue to collapse.

“It is deeply alarming that in all CHO areas, the numbers of children in 1st or 2nd class and 5th or 6th class and other target groups attending scheduled assessment has significantly dropped over the last five years. The HSE have stated that their ability to offer services has been limited due to staffing. Now, in many parts of the country assessments are limited to sixth class.

“For example, in CHO 3, we see a 46.2% decrease in the numbers of these children attending their scheduled assessment, while the number of dentists employed by the HSE in that area dropped by two. In my own area, despite the significant demand, assessments are down 5.5%.

“In parts of the country, sixth-class assessments are now being conducted when the children are in sixth year of secondary school. One dentist informed me this week that some of her children are now driving themselves to their appointments.

By the time those children get picked up, the result is that there are very high levels of decay and increased levels of extractions. Orthodontic checks are not being picked up, which is leading to much more complex and expensive care as those children go into adulthood.

“This is a result of poor staffing levels and the hands off the wheel approach taken by Government. The number of staff working in seven of the nine CHO’s are either down or has remained the same. Overall, staffing is at a standstill or dropping.

“The cutback in the treatments available under the PRSI treatment benefit scheme is also having real impacts on people’s oral health. People can now only avail of a very limited number of services. Ultimately, if you need any sort of proper work done, you must go private. It is high time that we ensured an expansion of the range of benefits afforded to people by means of their PRSI.

“It is now absolutely critical that we see renewed investment in public dental care in this country and that we increase the number of dental places at university level with urgency.