Cutbacks to the dental care scheme for medical card holders has caused "chaos, confusion and hardship" to vulnerable people, the Joint Committee on Health and Children was told today.
In April, the Health Service Executive issued a circular to dentists participating in the Dental Treatment Services Scheme, telling them of major cutbacks to the scheme within 24 hours.
The cutbacks involved restricting treatment under the scheme to emergency dental care with additional care only considered "in exceptional or high risk cases".
Irish Dental Association chief executive Fintan Hourihan said the content of the circular was "as ludicrous as it is vague" and no clarity had been provided to dentists or their patients since then. He said dentists were encountering hardship cases every day as a result of the cutbacks.
The committee was told of the case of one 17-year-old girl who was told she needed five fillings before undergoing orthodontic treatment but approval for the fillings was refused under the scheme. Dentists must seek approval from the principal dental surgeon before undertaking treatment.
Another dentist was refused approval for gum treatment for a young woman with a major psychiatric illness. Her teeth were fine before admission to hospital but six months later she needed six fillings and gum treatment. Under the reduced scheme, she was only entitled to two fillings and no provision was made for treatment for her swollen bleeding gums.
Mr Hourihan said everyone knew that prevention was cheaper than cure in the case of dental care and the true cost of the cutbacks would become evident in months and years to come.
He urged the committee to use all its power to get the HSE to suspend the circular with immediate effect and to engage with his association and review alternative sources of funding.
