Government cuts made back in January to state dental treatment subsidies have led to a huge drop in treatments under the PRSI scheme.

Since the start of this year, the only treatment available free under the PRSI dental scheme is an annual examination, while subsidies for other treatments such as fillings and extractions have been removed, meaning those with PRSI cover now have to pay full price.

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) has pointed out that figures from the Department of Social Protection have shown that 700,000 fewer dental treatments were carried out under the PRSI scheme - a 57% fall-off in treatments which it says will rise to 60% in the full year.

According to the latest figures, the number of claims under the dental scheme is down by 45% while Government spending on the scheme is down 56%.

Fintan Hourhan, Chief Executive of the IDA, pointed out that taxpayers are continuing to pay their PRSI but are receiving very little in return.

He queried what type of PRSI benefits people are actually receiving for the money they pay.

"Consumers are constantly being encouraged to highlight cases of mis-selling. This is surely a blatant example," Mr Hourihan said.

He said due to the removal of State subsidies, dental charges have risen by 14% and consumers would have been hit even harder if most dentists had reduced or frozen their fees, in some cases by over 20%.

The IDA says the drop in uptake of dental care will have serious consequences in the short-term for the country's dental health.

It said dental problems not treated now tend to require a greater level of treatment, and the PRSI cuts could lead to irreversible decline in the oral health of the nation.

Meanwhile, the IDA said a new survey of dentists showed that 47% of practices had reduced staff through redundancies and lay-offs. Income has fallen in 92% of practices, with nearly two-thirds of practices reporting an income drop of up to 40%.