Vol. 504 No. 2
213 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has made a ruling whereby persons whose teeth are displaced by less than ten millimetres will not receive any attention for orthodontic correction; and if he will review this in view of the progress being made in dealing with the most urgent cases in order that all young people who could benefit from orthodontic treatment will have an opportunity to do so. [11399/99]
Because of the high cost of fixed appliance orthodontic therapy, health boards can only provide this treatment where a child has a handicapping orthodontic condition. Children are assessed therefore, in accordance with guidelines drawn up by my Department in 1985, to ensure that resources are used to best advantage and for those most affected or handicapped. The guide lines provide the criteria that should be applied in assessing degrees of priority of need for specialist orthodontic treatment. Patients with extreme handicapping malocclusions are assessed as category B. One criterion for assessing a malocclusion as extreme and handicapping is where the horizontal overjet is equal to or greater than 10 millimetres.
At the suggestion of my Department, an orthodontic review group was set up by the health boards to prepare a report and make recommendations on the orthodontic services. The objective of this review is to ensure equity in the provision of orthodontic treatment throughout the health boards having regard to the additional resources provided to health boards over the past few years under the dental health action plan.
The group recently made a report to the chief executive officers of the health boards and this report is currently the subject of discussions between the chief executive officers of the health boards and my Department.
