Experts are hitting out at the HSE for the ‘very poor’ oral care they are providing to children, which has led to a huge increase in the number of kids under the age of four needing to have teeth removed.
Vice President of the Irish Dental Association (IDA) Dr Anne Twomey says that children as young at 18 months are having teeth removed because of severe decay.
The IDA’s comments come after Britain’s Faculty of Dental Surgery revealed that the number of babies needing to have teeth removed has risen by 24 percent in 10 years.
"We’re seeing very young children with increased tooth decay all the time. I would estimate that our rates in Ireland are even higher probably than the UK,” Dr Twomey told Independent.ie.
"Having teeth extracted can cause so many problems.
“After they’ve been pulled, the holes close up and when the permanent teeth come down, they can do so in bizarre ways, even through the palate, and often they need significant orthodontistry later in life.
"This is why we need to put a focus on preventing decay in the first place."
A recent study found that a large number of Irish children under the age of five were in need of extractions under general anaesthetic.
The findings led to a call from the IDA for more regular school screenings for preschool children.
The study revealed that some children needed as many as nine teeth extracted, at a cost of €819 per patient – a price which the IDA says is nearly eight times what it would cost to introduce a sufficient oral health programme for these children.
“The first and most important point to make is that too many children in Ireland are having teeth extracted under general anaesthetic,” HSE Dental Surgeons group president, Dr Michaela Dalton, told The Journal.
“We believe the number is well over 10,000 every year.”
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Dr Twomey says that children should be going to see a dentist at the age of one, and not wait until they are around eight years old, which is currently the case for many.
"Very often, children are eight years old before they ever meet the dentist, but really they should be seeing the dentist after they turn one so problems can be picked up and prevented from the beginning," she said.
"Often children are only brought to the dentist when they are in pain, as an afterthought, when they’re fighting dreadful infections and going through such pain.
"Two weeks ago, I had a one-and-a-half-year-old come in to us and all of his teeth, which he had had for less than six months, were decayed and had to be extracted,” she said.
The HSE has responded to the IDA’s criticism and says their research shows children’s oral health improving.
"A research project, Fluoride and Caring for Children's Teeth (FACCT), is being conducted by UCC and supported by the HSE.
“While the results of this research project are due to be published this year, preliminary findings indicate that children's oral health has been improving overall since the previous survey of children's oral health in 2002."
