A new plan to halve lengthy waiting lists for orthodontic treatment for children includes a tax-credit scheme for the first time.
The scheme is for parents who do not want their children to have to wait for treatment in the public system and opt to pay for them to be treated privately.
Some children have had to wait five years for treatment, a situation the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has described as "appalling". He wants dramatic reductions to be achieved.
Mr Martin said that if the tax scheme was a success it could be introduced in other areas. "Ultimately we have a commitment to building up the public sector, but in the absence of that we will use the private sector in the meantime.
"Health boards already contract out their work to the private sector, but this is a grant-in-aid scheme as an incentive for people. We haven't looked at it for other areas, but we'll see how this one works out."
At present there are 18,000 children and teenagers nationwide awaiting orthodontic treatment, and 12,000 are waiting to be assessed for treatment.
Private treatment for a child can cost thousands of pounds. Mr Martin said a total of £8.5 million had been allocated to health boards, an additional £5.3 million, for recruiting additional staff, more patients for existing staff, and for additional services through private practitioners at the existing approved rates.
He said the orthodontic waiting lists had been a serious concern for a long time but "everyone just seemed to be throwing up their hands saying there's nothing can be done".
the Minister has asked all the health boards to submit proposals on shortening the lists. The Northern Area Health Board came up with the tax-credit idea, and it was decided that since the ERHA had a waiting list of 10,000 it would be introduced there.
Mr Martin said that under the tax scheme parents had the option of availing of private treatment in non-urgent routine cases, following assessment by a health board consultant orthodontist. The board would offer a 50 per cent grant and they could avail of tax credits on a further 25 per cent. Medical card patients would be 100 per cent covered by the scheme.
Mr Martin said the ultimate effect of the initiative would be to increase the numbers treated each year by 5,500 and to substantially reduce waiting times for treatment, with the aim of reducing it to one year.
The ERHA waiting lists, he said, would be reduced to "a more manageable" 2,000.
The Minister also said there were not enough staff in the orthodontic services trained to a specialist level. There would be considerable changes in training, he said.
There was a commitment for "specialised training in dentistry to be established on a sound footing", and the number of specialists in training would be trebled.
His Department has also funded a full professorial post in the UCC Dental School. Health board management, he said, believed the orthodontic waiting lists to be "somewhat inflated" and these would be validated soon.