Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 19 Apr 1994

Vol. 441 No. 5

Written Answers. - Orthodontic Treatment.

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

181 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Health the proposals, if any, he has to deal with the number of orthodontic patients in the Western Health Board area who are being refused treatment because they are not meeting the 1985 guidelines of his Department; the proposals, if any, he has to review these guidelines; the proposals if any, he has to provide extra funding to allow the Western Health Board to cater for the patients who are being disqualified for treatment after being five to six years on the orthodontic waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

It is the experience here and in most developed countries that demand for orthodontic treatment exceeds real need where the service is provided free of charge.

Accordingly, my Department has asked health boards to apply certain objective criteria in assessing degrees of priority of need for specialist orthodontic treatment on the basis of degree of handicap and severity of malocclusion. I am satisfied that these criteria continue to be fair and relevant, and not in need of review at this stage.

For many years most health boards were unable to recruit consultant orthodontists to head up their secondary care orthodontic services. In those circumstances, patients were assessed for orthodontic treatment by the health board's own dental staff and provisional waiting lists for secondary care orthodontic treatment were drawn up on the basis of these assessments. During the past two years consultant orthodontists have been successfully recruited by the Southern, North-Western, South-Eastern, Western and Eastern Health Boards. A consultant orthodontist has been with the Mid-Western Health Board since 1985.

One of the first tasks of the newly appointed consultant orthodontists has been to reassess the cases already provisionally placed on orthodontic waiting lists and to validate these waiting lists. Inevitably, some persons on the provisional lists are not being included in the validated and up-dated waiting lists as in the opinion of the consultant orthodontist their treatment need does not come within the guidelines.

In 1993 I allocated an additional £2 million for developments in the dental services including the development of orthodontic services. This year I will provide further resources to the health boards to continue the development of orthodontic services.

My Department is in discussions with the Western Health Board regarding their requirements for the further development of their orthodontic services in 1994 and over the period of the Programme for a Partnership Government.