A Department of Health/HSE directive to dentists in public health clinics not to fill cavities in the "baby teeth" of children has been deemed unsafe by dental experts.

Dental Protection Ireland, a risk management agency for dentistry, has raised concerns about a memo from a senior dental manager in a HSE region indicating that it was official policy to instruct dentists not to fill cavities routinely in baby teeth.

The HSE advice was based on a Department of Health policy statement on the issue.

However, the risk management group pointed said it is not advisable and potentially dangerous to leave cavities in baby teeth without fillings.

Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr James Reilly said the expert advice was that dental caries left untreated are likely to progress to a stage which causes pain and suffering for children and that a general policy of non-intervention was "wrong and unjustifiable."

He said the experts had concluded that the main factor driving the Department of Health and HSE's policy was lack of resources.

The risk management experts said dentists who follow this official policy would nopt be acting in their patients' best interests.

They said there was no evidence form research to support the "no-fillings" approach for baby teeth cavities and it could "expose the child to a serious risk of pain, discomfort and even abscess, infection and hospitalisation."

Dr Reilly said the HSE was adopting a "penny wise-pound foolish" approach to short-term savings in public dental care which would lead to pain and discomfort for children.