An 11-year-old child was told they needed a tooth extracted because a shortage of dentists meant they missed crucial appointments. 

Children in Ireland are meant to receive three free dental check ups while in primary school.

However, such is the shortage of dentists in Ireland, many children now do not routinely receive the appointments.

Speaking on The Hard Shoulder, Irish Dental Association spokesperson Dr Caroline Robbins said it had previously been a “very good service”.

“It was a service that was designed to target every child in second, fourth and fifth class,” she said.

“Now the priority is sixth class, second class and fourth class - depending on resource availability.”

A dentist examining a patient. Image: JOHN KELLERMAN / Alamy Stock Photo

Dr Robbins described it as a “crying shame” given the public dental service has the potential to be “an extremely good service” if it were adequately funded.

“We have figures from 2023, in second class out of the 55,000 children in the country - only 12,000 plus were screened,” she said.

“In fifth class, 50,000 were screened out of 72,000 when they were eligible and none were screened in fourth class.”

The consequences of children not receiving the checkups can often be disastrous for their dental health.

“You’re missing that golden window,” Dr Robbins explained.

“Second, fourth and sixth class correspond with milestones in dental development and development as a whole.

“So, in second class, for example, it corresponds to when your first adult molars come through.

“A lot of parents may not even realise that these molars have come into their mouth… [and] we’ve had the extreme example of telling a parent, ‘I’m really sorry, this tooth seen six years ago could have had the prevention that it needed… now I’m telling you it needs so much work that probably the best thing to recommend is that we extract it.’”

More dentists needed

Dr Robbins said while the population of Ireland is increasing, the number of dentists in the country has not dropped and the result is services are increasingly stretched.

“We’re pretty much training the same amount of dentists that we did,” she said.

“It’s not just dentistry, I feel sometimes the entire country has sleep walked into the fact that we have an increasing population.

“Across every industry, we have not prepared for needing an increased number of hands to do the job.”

Earlier this year, the number of people waiting for dental surgery in Irish hospitals exceeded 13,000.

Main image: Dentist with a patient. Picture by: Alamy.com