A radical shake-up of anti-competitive practices in the dental profession is recommended in a new report.
The report from the Competition Authority published yesterday said the price of dental treatment has consistently increased above the general rate of inflation.
"Between 1990 and 2004 the consumer price index increased by 56 per cent, health inflation grew by 129 per cent, while dental fees increases by 140 per cent," it said.
"Some consumers have even opted to travel to other countries for certain dental services. This is not surprising when competition is actively discouraged."
It says dentists are banned by their regulatory authority, the Dental Council, from advertising or offering discounts which prohibits customers from shopping around.
The authority makes 13 recommendations and says dental hygienists, trained to do scaling and polishing, and dental technicians who make dentures, should be able to set up on their own.
"Ireland is out of step with most other developed economies in preventing certain oral healthcare professions from offering services to consumers they are are qualified to provide," it said.
If hygienists were in competition with dentists, it would result in huge savings for consumers and the State, it added. In other countries hygienists are 20-40 per cent cheaper than dentists.
In 2004, €15.7 million was spent by the State on teeth scaling and polishing and if this was provided by hygienists, the savings to the State could be in the region of €3.14 million-€6.28 million for this treatment alone, it said.
In addition almost €13 million was spent by the State on dentures last year and this service would also be provided cheaper by dental technicians.
There is "a very limited amount of accurate information available on private dental fees", the report continued. The only comprehensive survey of dental prices, it said, was completed by the Irish Dental Association (IDA) five years ago. It was repeated in March 2003 but the IDA would not give the findings to the Competition Authority.
The report goes on to say there is a shortage of training places in dentistry and it wants the Higher Education Authority to review this.
It also says the limited number of training places for orthodontists, for which the average waiting time for publicly funded treatment is three years, has impacted on prices.
"The dental profession in Ireland is hindered by numerous layers of unnecessary laws and regulations . . . the rules governing the dental profession urgently need to be modernised."