SOCIAL Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan strongly criticised waiting list times for orthodontic treatment for children under the age of 16 in the Mid West.
Cllr O’Donovan deemed figures she received from the HSE, which showed 676 young people on the waiting list with the Mid West Orthodontic Service who have yet to commence treatment, to be deeply concerning.
“The average waiting time for starting treatment now stands at four years. Given that a typical course takes an average of 18 months to two years, this means orthodontic treatments can be over eight years from referral to completion,” the City West representative told the Limerick Post.
“I have been informed of cases where children referred in their first year of secondary school are only completing their orthodontic treatments in the second year of college.
“As early intervention can be key in dealing with orthodontic issues, hard-pressed families are being forced to pay for expensive private treatments.”
Cllr O’Donovan said that “the HSE are understood to be finding it difficult to recruit specialist orthodontists for the Mid West, with a recent recruitment campaign failing to attract any applicants. As a result, plans are now proceeding for an international recruitment drive to employ two orthodontists within the service.”
The need for regional development of orthodontic services, Cllr O’Donovan insisted, could not be more urgent.
“In fact, a report from 20 years ago called for the reinstatement of a training programme for orthodontists in the Mid West and for measures to address the insufficiency of public orthodontic services in Limerick,” she said.
“Not only was no action taken at the time, but no review has been carried out since. This speaks to the wider issue of under investment and poor regulation of public dentistry services in Ireland, which continue to be one of the most neglected areas of the health service.”
Maria Bridgeman, HSE Mid West Community Healthcare chief officer, said that to reduce waiting time for orthodontic treatment, every effort is being made to recruit specialist orthodontists. Approval, she added, has been received to fill two additional specialist orthodontist vacancies.
“Since May 2022, the HSE has conducted five recruitment campaigns in an attempt to fill three vacant specialist orthodontist posts. While the service has been successful in recruiting one additional specialist orthodontist, other candidates who were successful at interview, were offered positions, however, they have not accepted the posts.”
