The Health Service Executive (HSE) has established a review group to examine the State's orthodontic services.
The group has been asked by the HSE's chief executive, Prof Brendan Drumm, to study two reports in particular on orthodontic services produced in recent years by the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children and to recommend how services can be improved.
The most recent report from the Oireachtas Committee published last June recommended that the criteria being used to decide which children in the State are eligible for orthodontic treatment be immediately changed to allow children in all regions with severely overcrowded teeth to be treated.
It said there were more than 10,000 children on orthodontic waiting lists awaiting assessment of their condition at the end of 2004. It was estimated thousands more were awaiting treatment after being assessed.
The committee heard claims from one consultant orthodontist, Dr Ian O'Dowling, in February 2004 that some health boards were "lying" to children in need of orthodontic treatment and wrongly telling them they were ineligible for it in an effort "to artificially reduce waiting lists".
The committee recommended regional training programmes for orthodontists, which operated successfully in the midwest and other regions up to 1999, be "reinstated immediately" so that there would be more specialists to deal with those on waiting lists.
The review group set up by the HSE to look at these reports will be chaired by Hugh Lane, formerly assistant chief officer with the HSE South Western Area.
Terms of reference for the review and the full membership of the review group are being finalised. However, the HSE said consultant orthodontists, the Department of Health and local health office managers would be represented.
Last month Prof Drumm said it was unacceptable that children have to wait 12-18 months for appointments for orthodontic treatment. However, he said it would take five-six years before a full cohort of trained orthodontists was available in the public sector.
He said the HSE was currently paying to have a number of people trained as orthodontists in the UK under contractual arrangements which would see them return to Ireland on qualification.
Meanwhile, the Mayo Fine Gael TD Michael Ring has called for a complete overhaul of the eligibility guidelines for orthodontic treatment. "I have been inundated with complaints from parents who are being told that their children do not come within department guidelines - yet these same children are told by other qualified dentists that in fact they should come within the guidelines and therefore should be treated," he said.
"I believe that the guidelines are currently being used to deny treatment to patients. Approximately only one-fifth of all those referred for assessment are deemed to be eligible for treatment.
"I am aware of many cases where parents have to try to borrow money to pay for orthodontic treatment. It is causing tremendous financial hardship.
"I believe it is only a matter of time before this issue is taken to the courts to be resolved. We need an independent orthodontist to come in and assess the guidelines," he said.
