asked the Minister for Health why a child (name supplied) who was referred for orthodontic treatment to Marino Clinic by the Vernon Avenue dental clinic, Dublin, in September, 1973, has not yet received it.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Orthodontic Treatment.
2.
The provision of orthodontic treatment in this case is the responsibility of the Eastern Health Board.
Because other dental complications were present and had to be treated satisfactorily this patient was not ready for active orthodontic treatment until April, 1976.
As I have indicated in reply to previous parliamentary questions—Official Report, 27th April, 1976, Volume 290, columns 7 and 8—the board have decided in the light of the resources available to them for dental services generally to give priority to basic dental services for children and to defer for the time being the commencement of active orthodontic treatment. Such services are generally accepted as having a higher priority than orthodontic treatment.
The board will review this child's case in September next.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the child in question is one of a family of 11, that the intermediate dental treatment to which the Parliamentary Secretary refers was carried out a long time after it was prescribed, that it was paid for by the father out of his own pocket at a cost of £28 and that, in effect, this child, whose parents were informed that the orthodontic treatment was urgent approximately two years ago, is still without that treatment?
I agree with the Deputy that the treatment of this child was going on for two years. All this treatment was a necessary prerequisite to the orthodontic treatment. As I said in reply to a previous question, orthodontics have not got a high priority and basic dental treatment is considered by the Department and the board to be the essential just now in the present stringent financial circumstances.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary accept that in this case the basic dental treatment to which he referred was not prescribed for a considerable time and when eventually carried out was paid for by the father, not the Eastern Health Board?
Information that anything was paid by the father is new to me. The Deputy will appreciate that the Eastern Health Board decided that new cases for orthodontic treatment would not be treated until later this year.
May we take it that anyone in need of orthodontic treatment under this scheme, whether urgently or not, will not get it?
That is not implied in the answer. I said it will be reconsidered in September of this year.
Although it was required almost three years ago in this case, it will not be reconsidered even until September next and may not then be granted?
The fact that there was a delay of a couple of years was not the fault of the Eastern Health Board or the Department of Health. Extra treatment had to be given to this child to prepare the child for orthodonic treatment.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary consider the manner in which this child was examined and eventually prescribed for was satisfactory?
I have the reports of the dental surgeons. Everything done over the past couple of years was done at the request of the dental surgeons involved in the case.
Surely it did not take nearly three years to get fillings.
I can only go by what the dental surgeons tell me.