This article is from page 11 of the 2006-10-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
ORTHODONTIC consultants in private practice have been accused of “driving parents to use their service” by preventing delivery of adequate orthodontics through the public sector.
Speaking in the Seanad, Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley said for a number of years it had been “recognised that there has been an effort by consultants in private practice to drive parents to use their services.
“They are using a dominant position to prevent the delivery of the service through the public service,” he said.
“That is a pity, particularly with the pressures on parents of teenage children. It is right that the State should have a proper and coherent policy on orthodontics.
“We are aware of the difficulties young people have at that vulnerable age.
Their physical appearance is most important to them,” he added.
‘”Parents are obliged to pay large fees to private consultants.”
Last week The Clare People revealed that teenagers in Clare were waiting up to five years for essential orthodontist services; while those considered less serious were forced to go private or not have their teeth treated at all.
Almost a third of the teenage population of the county require orthodontic treatment.
The HSE Mid West Consultant Orthodontist Ted McNamara has left the responsibility for the backlog squarely at the door of the Department of Health and Children and what he describes as vested interests in the dental profession.
He said parents were often told that if their child was a less serious case they should consider going private as the wait in the public sector was now so long they might never be seen.
The startling figures released by the consultant may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Many parents feel pressured into an expensive move to the private sector, but the figures for those waiting for the public service is distorted as patients are removed from the public list once they decide to go private.
Mr McNamara last week addressed members of Clare County Council and called for the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children 2005 to be implemented immediately.
Some of the recommendations included a return to the system used in the nineties, which saw dentists trained to assist the Orthodontists in routine check ups, therefore speeding up the process.