The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTTS) is available to medical card holders aged 16 and over. The dental care is provided by independent dental practitioners who have a contract with the HSE. Patients may choose to have their treatment undertaken by any dentist who participates in the Scheme.
The HSE monitors data on the number of contractors in each Local Health Office (LHO) area and the number of contractors actively making claims though the DTSS each month. The HSE also monitors data on the number of new Dentists entering and exiting the DTTS in each LHO on a monthly basis.
In addition to the on-going management of DTSS contracts locally, the HSE from time to time conducts a national exercise to ensure that DTSS contract holders who are included in the Primary Care Reimbursement Scheme list as participating in the DTSS scheme, but are no longer active and have exited the scheme, are removed from the list of current contractors.
The HSE National Oral Health Office also liaises with Principal Dental Surgeons in each HSE dental area regarding access issues for medical card holders to the DTSS. At the end of January 2022 there was 1,146 private dentists contracted to the DTSS. A breakdown by Local Health Office is detailed in Appendix A.
I fully acknowledge the need to align the DTSS, with best international evidence and practice, as outlined in Smile agus Sláinte, the National Oral Health Policy, and I have given a commitment to the Irish Dental Association to begin substantive discussions by the second quarter of this year.
My immediate priority is to seek to address the current situation of medical card patients experiencing problems in accessing treatment.
In that respect, officials from my Department and from the HSE have held two rounds of discussions with the IDA, the most recent on 17 December last when my Department and the HSE presented proposals to invest additional resources in the Dental Treatment Services Scheme, including €10m provided in the Budget, on top of the 2022 Estimate allocation of €56 million.
The Department/HSE has offered increased fees across a number of items and proposed the reintroduction of the Scale and Polish item.
These proposals were expedited to address not only the problem of access for patients, but also concerns expressed by dentists about the viability of the DTSS, and to some extent, to bring about alignment with the Dental Treatment Benefits Scheme, which is widely operated by dentists for PRSI patients.
The Department is anxious to move the process on, in the interests of patients, and is hoping to meet the Irish Dental Association again in the next couple of weeks to progress matters.
In the meantime, I have been assured that the HSE Public Dental Service is seeking to provide emergency cover for any medical card patients who are experiencing problems in accessing a service.
DTSS Dental Contractors Jan22
