The provision of orthodontic treatment to eligible persons is the statutory responsibility of the health boards in the first instance. I recognise that the waiting times for orthodontic treatment are unacceptably long. This situation is compounded by the fact that the provision of orthodontic services is severely constricted due to the limited availability of trained specialist clinical staff to assess and treat patients. At the invitation of my Department, a group representative of health board management and consultant orthodontists reviewed the orthodontic services. The objective of this review was to ensure equity in the provision of orthodontic treatment throughout the health boards. Following this review structural changes are being introduced in the orthodontic services. These changes include the creation of the grade of specialist in orthodontics, the development of specialist training programmes and the creation of an auxiliary grade of orthodontic therapist to work in the orthodontic area. Six dentists from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, North-Eastern Health Board and South-Eastern Health Board commenced their training last October for specialist in orthodontics qualifications. My Department has provided €0.541 million in 2002 for specialist in orthodontics training. Furthermore, three dentists from the Western Health Board and North-Eastern Health Board are already in specialist training for orthodontics and this brings the total number of dentists in such training to nine. Discussions on providing an additional training course to commence this year are also under way.