(16/05/2010) Dentists have claimed that HSE cuts to the medical card and PRSI schemes are going to wipe out significant improvements that have been made in oral health in Ireland over the past 30 years
The Irish Dental Association (IDA) annual conference in Galway was told a new report shows the oral health of Irish citizens has improved and there has been a reduction in health inequalities for adults and children since 1980. The report says this is the result of a number of factors including water flu...
(28/05/2010) People who do not brush their teeth twice a day have an increased risk of developing heart disease, the results of a new study indicate.
Over the last two decades there has been increased interest in links between heart problems and gum disease. While it has been established that inflammation in the body, including in the mouth and gums, plays an important role in the build up of clogged arteries, this is the first study to investigate whether the number of times individuals brush their teeth h...
(18/06/2010) Two dentists have won high court injunctions preventing the HSE from changing their contracts by slashing entitlements in the free dental scheme for medical card holders.
The HSE recently announced that this scheme would in future restrict medical card holders to emergency care and oral examinations only.
However, the High Court has ruled that the changes cannot be implemented pending the outcome of the dentists' full court action.
The dentists, Martin Reid and James Turner, have claimed that...
(13/07/2010) Dentists have told a Dail Committee that the HSE's actions in relation to the Medical Card Scheme have caused ‘chaos, confusion and hardship' for 1.6 million dental patients throughout the country.
In a submission to the Joint Committee on Health and Children, representatives of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) outlined how on April 27, the HSE issued a circular without any warning, which with immediate effect, restricted the Medical Card Scheme to emergency dental treatment only.
"No ...
(12/04/2010) The rise in dental charges reported by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) last week is largely due to the Government’s removal of PRSI dental benefits, not dentists putting up their fees, the Irish Dental Association (IDA) has insisted. The figures released by the CSO showed that overall, health costs fell by 0.4% in the year to March 2010, but dental fees increased by 14.5% during this period.However following queries by the IDA, the CSO has now confirmed that this increase arose largely...
(19/04/2010) Almost 70% of dentists have seen a decline in the number of patients they are treating, a new survey has shown.According to the findings, 35% of dentists say the number of patients they are treating has fallen a lot, while 33% have seen a moderate decline in numbers.The fall in the number of patients comes despite almost half of the dentists surveyed stating that they had reduced their fees for some of the most common treatments, such as examinations, fillings and extractions.This reduction in f...
(29/04/2010) Dentists say the HSE is dismantling the medical card dental scheme and reducing it to as system that only provides emergency cover.
The Irish Dental Association (IDA) says the decision to restrict the scheme means that hundreds of thousands of medical card holders will be denied a range of routine free treatments, including fillings and extractions, as well as denture provision and treatment of gum disease.
In a circular sent to dentists, the HSE said it would only provide emergency dental car...
(05/05/2010) An expert group of dentists has warned of huge logistical, administrative and legal problems resulting from the HSE's shock decision last month to end free routine dental care for 1.5 million medical card patients.
The experts say medical card patients are currently in the dark about what their future entitlements will be.
And documentation released to Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly also shows that recommendations from the lead principal dental surgeons to the HSE on ways of living...
(12/05/2010) Dentists say a new survey indicates that in the past year 6,000 people who travelled abroad for dental treatment had to receive corrective treatment on their return to Ireland. According to the survey, carried out by the Irish Dental Association (IDA), 75% of Irish dentists say they have provided treatment to patients in these circumstances.
Speaking on the eve of the IDA's annual conference in Galway, Dr Donal Blackwell, its outgoing President, said he was shocked at the numbers of ...
(14/05/2010) Three in four Irish children have experienced tooth decay by the time they reach the age of 15, dentists have warned.
They are calling on the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to introduce public health warning labels for fizzy drinks in an attempt to combat this problem.
They say that the warning could be similar to the health warning which is currently carried on tobacco products. This would increase public awareness of the negative impact these products have on oral and general health.
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