Sir, - The Consumers' Association might reflect more deeply before it advises patients to "shop around" for the cheapest dental care available North and South ("Northern dentistry may make smaller cavity in the purse", The Irish Times, August 14th).
The value of a dental service to a patient is measured by numerous variables in addition to price: the experience and skill of the dentist and staff, the overall level of patient care in the practice, the quality of materials and laboratories used in the fabrication of crowns and other restorations and indeed the availability of the dentist to provide prompt emergency and follow-up care. Such factors may not be immediately apparent to patients "shopping around" or travelling north for treatment.
Aside from the obvious fallacy of treating the costs of providing modern dental services in a capital city like Dublin as if they were identical to costs in rural regions, misleading comparisons like this do no service to patients who are being led to believe that access to the same level of dental care can be had anywhere for the same cost.
In relation to any professional service, the remit of the Consumer Association must be to present the facts in a fair and balanced way and to inform and heighten public awareness of what constitutes good service and true value for fees paid. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Ray McCarthy, Dr Susan Kiely, Fitzwilliam House Dental Surgery, Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2.