Dentists have claimed that HSE cuts to the medical card and PRSI schemes are going to wipe out significant improvements that have been made in oral health in Ireland over the past 30 years

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) annual conference in Galway was told a new report shows the oral health of Irish citizens has improved and there has been a reduction in health inequalities for adults and children since 1980.
 
The report says this is the result of a number of factors including water fluoridation, self-care and the contribution of Irish dentistry.

The report also highlights the role the public dental services has played in improving the dental health of children under 16 and the success of the needs-based system which operates here in reducing health inequalities, the conference was told.
 
The report by Ciaran O’Neill, Professor of Health Technology Assessment at NUI Galway, also found major differences in the state supports available to dentists in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
 
While dentists in NI received approximately €37,000 in practice allowance grants, no such support was available in the Republic of Ireland.
 
IDA Chief Executive Fintan Hourihan said the report was a timely reminder of the progress which has been made in recent years in dentistry.
 
‘This report shows the huge advances that have been made in the oral health of the nation. These improvements have been achieved in spite of rather than because of support from the state."
 
Pointing to the huge contribution of the medical card and PRSI schemes to the overall improvement in oral health, Mr Hourihan described the HSE’s decision to "annihilate" the medical card scheme at less than 24 hours notice as "cynical and contemptuous."
 
‘This is a particularly reprehensible move as the 1.6 million people who are going to suffer most are the people in greatest need of treatment," he added.