Mobile clinics could fill the cavity in school dental services – Daly

Roscommon-Galway Fianna Fáil TD, Dr Martin Daly TD, has called for mobile dental clinics to be established to help address the backlog in the school dental programme.

Deputy Daly has expressed his concerns about the severe backlog in school dental appointments within the constituency and persistent staffing shortages in the public dental service.

Nearly 360,000 children have missed out on appointments as part of the school dental programme in the last five years.

The Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon-Galway is proposing that a mobile dental clinic would be established in each province and would travel between schools throughout the year.

The clinics would provide routine examinations, preventative care and oral health education, while referring children who require more complex treatment to fixed dental facilities.

“The school dental programme is falling behind. We need practical solutions that can help us catch up and ensure children are not missing out on routine dental care," Deputy Daly said.

In Latvia, state-funded mobile dental clinics travel directly to schools and provide examinations and treatment for children. Mobile dental services are also used in parts of Denmark, while Estonia has successfully developed a school-based mobile dental model in partnership with its public health system.

“We do not need to reinvent the wheel. Other European countries are already demonstrating that mobile dental clinics can help deliver care directly to children and improve access, particularly where services are under pressure," Deputy Daly added.

International research suggests the cost of a fully equipped mobile dental clinic could be in the region of €500,000. Deputy Daly iscurrently seeking a detailed costing from the Parliamentary Budget Office to establish what a model like this could cost in an Irish context.

“This proposal is about ensuring that every child has access to basic dental care, regardless of where they live or whether the local public dental service has vacancies that cannot be filled," the Deputy concluded.