Support for dental health 'destroyed'

DENTAL TREATMENT for medical card holders will for the first time be “rationed” in the wake of budget cuts, a crisis meeting of dentists has been told.

The Government has “destroyed” what minimal support it has given to dental health care in recent years, members of the Irish Dental Association were told at the meeting to discuss cuts in payment supports for treatment on PRSI and medical card schemes.

Some 450 dentists, almost one-third of all private dentists in the State, attended the meeting at Croke Park yesterday.

Chief executive of the association Fintan Hourihan said the €110 million in cuts was an “astronomical” amount of money to take out of the system.

“It will lead to rationing of services, waiting lists and will cause profound damage to the dental health of the population and the medial card holders in particular.”

He said “the consequences will be huge for dentists and for patients alike as we roll back much of the progress we’ve made”.

He added that an economic assessments of the supports conducted by the association “proved that the supports available through the PRSI scheme save the taxpayer €3 for every €1 spent”.

The estimated €110 million in cuts included €30 million from the expected cost of dental treatments for medical card patients this year; a reduction of €50 million in financial support for PRSI payers, allowing an examination only and not treatments; and the removal of an estimated €29 million a year in tax relief for dental treatment for higher earners.

A spokesman for Minister for Health Mary Harney said that the cuts had brought dental spending to 2008 levels. He added that the budget had to be delivered against the background of the current economic situation. The €30 million in the dental treatment service for medical card holders was out of €400 million in non-pay expenditure cuts that had to be made this year, and the reduction in the PRSI-related schemes was a social welfare cut.

Mr Hourihan said Ireland was the only EU member state not to have a chief dental officer, reflecting its lack of concern for dental health. He added that the association had written to the Minister before Christmas seeking a meeting to discuss the cuts but had only received an acknowledgement of their letter.

The Minister’s spokesman was unaware of the status of the Irish Dental Association’s request for a meeting with the Minister but he said she was “always open to meet professional groups”.