VULNERABLE PATIENTS with special needs, such as people with intellectual disability, will bear the brunt of cutbacks to the public dental service, the annual meeting of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) will hear today.
The incoming president of the IDA, Dr Donal Blackwell, will warn the conference that as a result of underfunding of the public dental service there will be “longer delays and waiting times for people with dental problems including young children and those with special needs”.
Dr Blackwell will say that the recruitment ban announced recently by the HSE for public dentists and others in the public service would add to difficulties.
Warning that a number of dental clinics have already been closed due to lack of staff, he said last night that further staff reductions “will have a major impact on the dental treatment that these vulnerable patients receive”.
Dentists employed directly by the HSE treat almost all special needs patients in the Republic. They also look after the dental needs of about two-thirds of primary school children.
The new president said the association would also be asking dentists employed directly by the HSE to advise their patients of “risk management issues” arising from the recruitment embargo. “The responsibility belongs to the HSE that no patient comes to harm as a result of an inflexible approach to the employment of dental staff”, he said.