I propose to take Questions Nos. 231 and 232 together. It is the Eastern Health Board's policy that the need for dental treatment in national primary school children be identified through school screenings and that treatment offered is based not on demand, but on need.
The change from a demand-based system to a planned systematic service was introduced following a detailed study of the dental services in the Eastern Health Board area in 1989. Changes in the pattern of disease and the emergence of new technology mean that greater improvements in oral health can be achieved by targeting the service at specific age groups.
The system is now in place in all Eastern Health Board areas of examining children on an incremental basis in school classes and providing comprehensive dental education, preventive (fissure sealing) and treatment services for children. The objective is to ensure that children have at least three examinations during their primary school years.
It is hoped that, in this way, children for whom a service was previously rarely, if ever, demanded—often those in lower socio-economic groups — and those in greatest need of dental care, will be screened, advised of the services available, educated in dental hygiene and referred for care as necessary.
This, therefore, does not represent a curtailment in the service but rather it is a development that seeks to provide the optimum service to those in need.
Emergency and scheduled maintenance services, of course, continue to be provided at Eastern Health Board health centres.
