asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of dentists who are currently providing dental care to spouses of insured workers under the new scheme.
Written Answers. - Dentist Statistics.
46.
A total of 134 dentists are currently providing dental care to the dependent spouses of insured persons under the extended dental benefit scheme.
Revised agreements to implement the new arrangements for dependent spouses were sent to all dentists on the panel but not all of them have so far been returned.
So far, 1,428 claims for dental benefit in respect of dependent spouses have been received in my Department from participating dentists. In the normal course, dentists assemble the claims into batches and send them to the Department every few days. It can be taken therefore that more than 1,428 claims are actually in process by participating dentists at this point of time.