Dental treatment for medical card holders across the country is in ‘complete chaos’, according to the Irish Dental Association.
It says state spending on dental care for these patients has fallen by 30%, as dentists are pulling out of the State’s Treatment Services Scheme due to the cost of taking part in the initiative.
Clare and Kerry have seen the biggest drops in funding by 48% and 45% respectively.
Irish Dental Association Chief Executive, Fintan Hourihan says the situation for these patients is at crisis point, noting “I think we’re looking at the scheme of dental care for medical card patients being on the brink of collapse, we’ve seen a very dramatic reduction in the amount of spending on dental treatments by the HSE over the last three years and in some parts of the country it’s fallen by nearly 48%”.
