Dental care is being 'denied' to children and special care patients due to a lack of dentists, the Irish Dental Association has warned.

It is calling on the Health Service Executive to recruit 120 extra dentists as it says there are only 253 whole time equivalents working in public dental service.

This is compared to 330 whole time equivalents back in 2006.

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) says the population of Ireland has increased by nearly one million people in that same period.

The association says 104,000 schoolchildren missed out on a dental screening last year due to insufficient staff numbers.

'Absolutely essential'

Speaking at the HSE Dental Surgeons seminar in Athlone, IDA CEO Fintan Hourihan said their waiting lists are still growing.

"We are calling on the government to rebuild the Public Dental Service [PDS] with immediate effect to meet the needs of children and special care patients," he said.

"The recruitment of 120 additional dentists to the PDS is absolutely essential to this given the ever-growing waiting lists for dental services."

Mr Hourihan said the Public Dental Service provides "a huge return on investment to the State".

"The school screening service, which is provided by the PDS for example, uses early intervention for children - specifically in lower-socioeconomic groups - and teaches good oral healthcare to those children at an important stage of development," he said.

"This provides for long-term preventative techniques to be applied by the targeted cohort of children."

A woman visiting the dentist for a dental checkup, 25-9-09. Image: Hongqi Zhang / Alamy

Mr Hourihan said the service requires around 450 dentists to "adequately service the dental programmes currently offered by the HSE based off current population estimates."

"Waiting lists for public schemes have spiralled due to the lack of staff, yet the Government is seeking to increase the number of services available and increase the eligible cohorts without having assessed the PDS capabilities or resources".

Mr Hourihan said the Government should "first assess its ability to deliver on the current programme for oral healthcare prior to bringing forward any new programmes or initiatives."

The Public Dental Service provides dental services to public patients on behalf of the HSE.

Main image: A child at the dentist, 26-3-17. Image: Igor Kardasov / Alamy