The rise in dental charges reported by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) last week is largely due to the Government’s removal of PRSI dental benefits, not dentists putting up their fees, the Irish Dental Association (IDA) has insisted.

The figures released by the CSO showed that overall, health costs fell by 0.4% in the year to March 2010, but dental fees increased by 14.5% during this period.

However following queries by the IDA, the CSO has now confirmed that this increase arose largely as a result of the Government's removal of PRSI benefits for dental care in the last Budget.

In other words, the CSO figures relate to the charges paid by patients and do not suggest that dentists have increased their professional fees. According to the IDA, the majority of dentists have frozen or reduced their professional fees in recent months.

The association is now calling on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Eamon O’Cuiv, to reverse this decision as a matter of urgency.

"The decimation of the PRSI scheme is a disgrace. People are being made pay the same level of social insurance from their wages, but are receiving less in benefits. If a regular insurance company tried it, they would be run out of town but the Government has gotten away with yet another stealth tax, which is set to cause serious damage to the health of the nation,” said IDA chief executive, Fintan Hourihan.

He insisted that dentists were trying to keep costs as low as possible, but acknowledged that inevitably, some of the costs previously paid for by the Government would end up being paid for by patients.

"Dentists' incomes are being cut in a variety of ways but I know members are trying to avoid passing on extra costs to patients. Ironically it is dentists and not the Government who will probably bear the criticism for this but it is the Government's fault. The Government must ensure that full PRSI benefits are restored as soon as possible,” Mr Hourihan added.