The public dental service, which provides services to children of school-going age, is being ‘pushed to the brink', it has been claimed.

Speaking at the HSE dentists' annual seminar in Athlone, the chief executive of the Irish Dental Association (IDA), Fintan Hourihan, pointed out that the population of children under the age of 16 in Ireland has increased by 20% over the last decade, to 1.1 million.

However, the number of dentists tasked with looking after these young people has fallen by 20% in recent years due to a recruitment embargo. As a result, in some areas, dentists are extracting almost as many children's teeth as they are filling, ‘a stark example of how bad the situation has become'.

"For example, the situation in Laois/Offaly is simply shocking. Last year in Laois, dentists carried out 1,200 extractions and 1,800 fillings. In Offaly, it was 915 extractions and 1,100 fillings. We believe this is a direct result of the collapse of the school screenings in these areas as children in these counties are not being seen until they are in first year in secondary school.

"In Laois, the number of under16s has increased by 40% since 2002, but the number of dentists has fallen by 42% since 2008," Mr Hourihan told the seminar.

He also highlighted figures for six community care areas, for which exact numbers are available, which show that last year, almost 16,000 primary school children missed their school screening.

"A partial screening service at best is on offer in most other counties. In addition, dental clinics are being closed down. Two have been closed in Clondalkin in west Dublin recently, which is leading to ever lengthening waiting lists," he explained.

Mr Hourihan insisted that the failure of the school screening system to cope as a result of staff shortages means that many dental problems are not identified in the early stages. This has resulted in thousands of children having to undergo painful operations under general anaesthetic.

"The average age for children to undergo extractions under general anaesthetic is six, while some children as young as two require this treatment. Some children are having more than nine teeth extracted.

"We pointed out last year that 10,000 children were undergoing extractions under general anaesthetic. The HSE showed how out of touch it is with the situation by saying the figure was as low as 3,000 but a HSE report published a short time later confirmed the IDA figure," Mr Hourihan said.

He added that there is ‘no way' that level of extractions should be happening in a first world country.

The IDA warned that dentists may opt for industrial action if the situation does not change. It called on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to personally intervene and to sanction a number of senior appointments immediately.

"If we are serious about turning back the clock on years of cutbacks and mismanagement, we need to establish a dedicated budget for HSE dental services and we need a full-time HSE Director of Oral Health and a full-time Chief Dental Officer, independent of the HSE, to be appointed," Mr Houriahn told the seminar.