The amount of money households are spending on dental care has fallen significantly in recent years, new figures have shown.

According to the figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), in 2015, households spent just €84 on dental care compared to €197 in 2010. The Irish Dental Association (IDA) has insisted that it is impossible for families to maintain a good level of dental health at this level of expenditure.

"We are seriously concerned about the impact of cuts in household spending on citizens' dental health. While this may be caused by the economic collapse and cuts in state supports for dental treatments, these figures indicate Irish people are not prioritising their dental care and that needs to change.

"This is not an optional expense. Prevention is cheaper than cure and if we don't address the issue now we are simply storing up problems for the future," commented IDA chief executive, Fintan Hourihan.

The IDA claims that public support for dental care, via the HSE, medical card and PRSI schemes, has been slashed by more than €500 million in the last five years. For example previously, under the medical card and PRSI dental schemes, dental patients were eligible to certain subsidies for treatments such as fillings and extractions, and they could avail of one free scale and polish each year.

However, a few years ago, these benefits were reduced to only cover the cost of one annual check-up. Dentists have repeatedly criticised this move, which they believe will be more costly in the long-run, as many people choose to avoid the dentist due to the costs involved, ending up with poorer oral health as a result.

"This is a perfect storm. Household spending on dental care has more than halved over the last five years and at the same time the state has cut dental supports to patients by €500 million. We know there are huge issues out there because dentists are seeing it in their surgeries. The State will simply have to take a lead," Mr Hourihan said.

The IDA has written to the Government calling on it to devise a response plan. It has suggested a number of ideas, including:
-Increasing investment in the PRSI dental scheme
-Introducing supports to encourage first dental visits at 12 months of age
-Appointing extra HSE dentists to cater for children and special care patients.