The delivery of orthodontic services is a matter for the chief executive officers of the health boards in the first instance. My Department is committed to supporting the development of the public orthodontic services and in this regard a range of measures have been taken to improve service provision on a national basis. The grade of specialist in orthodontics has been created in the health board orthodontic service. The introduction of this pivotal grade will have a tremendous impact on the future delivery of orthodontics in the public service and ultimately will address the issues of recruitment and retention of qualified clinical personnel in the service.
This year, my Department expects to fund 11 dentists from various health boards for specialist in orthodontics qualifications at training programmes in Ireland and at two separate universities in the United Kingdom. These 11 trainees for the public orthodontic service are additional to the six dentists who commenced their training last year and one dentist whose specialist training is nearing completion. This is an aggregate of 18 public service dentists currently in training for specialist in orthodontics qualifications. The training programmes concerned provide a broad academic background and experience in different clinical treatment methods and are made possible by co-operation between health boards, health board consultant orthodontists and dental teaching institutions.