New cutbacks in the dental scheme for medical card holders will lead to hundreds of thousands of patients being denied vital treatment, dentists have claimed.

According to the Irish Dental Association (IDA), cuts of up to €40 million in HSE funding for the medical card scheme, which are due to go ahead next month, will lead to a major reduction in the number of check-ups, fillings, extractions and denture treatments carried out on card holders.

The association said that the cuts will lead to a 30% reduction in the number of treatments dentists can provide to medical card holders. This is equivalent to 468,000 treatments. A breakdown of the figures estimates that there will be 181,000 less fillings, 93,600 less check-ups, 32,000 less extractions and 12,300 less denture treatments.

Commenting on the figures, IDA chief executive, Fintan Hourihan, said that if the HSE proceeds with these cutbacks next month, the dental health of hundreds of thousands of people will be damaged and the dental health of the nation will be ‘set back by decades’.

“As it is, the system is barely limping along. These new cuts are akin to the introduction of rationing. But how do you ration dental treatments? Not for the first time the most vulnerable in our society will suffer most and these measures will widen the divide between the less well off and those who can afford to be treated privately.

“On a human level these cutbacks are going to cause pain and distress to hundreds of thousands of people. From those who need teeth filled, to those whose dental problems will not be picked up by check-ups or X-rays, to older people who will not get the denture treatment they need,” Mr Hourihan said.

The IDA noted that there has been an increase of 138,000 medical card holders in the last two years, while this year 144,000 more people are expected to join the scheme. It insisted that it is ‘grossly irresponsible’ of the HSE to cut spending back to 2008 levels with hundreds of thousands more people now holding medical cards.

It also argued that spending should be increased by €30 million to €100 million to cope with the increased demands on the system.

“Dentists will be placed in impossible situations in the coming months. Fillings and root canal treatment will only be allowed in ‘approved emergency circumstances’. Who is going to make that call? The HSE says dentures will be prioritised based on need, but again the criteria is not stated. This is a recipe for disaster and there is no way that hospitals and HSE clinics will be able to deal with the extra demands placed on them,” Mr Hourihan said.

The IDA believes that children and special needs patients will be particularly badly hit by these cuts as the service for children is ‘already seriously compromised’ because of a staffing embargo.

The association is calling on the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and the HSE to examine all alternative means of limiting the impact of these cuts. These include agreeing supplementary funding, using the National Treatment Purchase Fund and prioritising the spending on the medical card scheme within the wider dental budget.

“We have offered to engage in talks to find a workable solution. The path the HSE is on right now means we are storing up huge problems for the dental health of the nation further down the road.

“Medical card holders have significantly poorer dental health as it is. If patients are denied treatments they may feel they have no choice but to take legal action to vindicate their statutory right to dental care under the 1970 Health Act. Not only are these cuts not fair, they don’t make any financial sense either,” Mr Hourihan added.

The IDA represents 2,000 dentists all over the country.