*Cllr Mary Howard. Photograph: John O’Neill
CHILDREN WITH additional needs have been subjected “cruelty” by the wait times for dental treatment.
An Ennis family has spent over €13,000 to get private treatment for their son who is living with autism and is non-verbal while there are 838 patients awaiting dental treatment under general anaesthetic in Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary.
Their case was highlighted by Cllr Mary Howard (FG) at a sitting of the Regional Health Forum when requesting details on the protocols for treating children and young adults “with additional needs who need a general anaesthetic for normal dental work”.
Across Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, the HSE Mid-West dental service has three senior dental surgeons. In Clare, the dental surgeon sees patients in the HSE dental clinics in Shannon and Ennis, four days per week. The senior dental surgeon covering the North Tipperary and East Limerick area resigned in early February 2024 and a recruitment campaign is underway to fill this vacant post.
Maria Bridgeman, Chief Officer, HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare explained that their dental service has “limited access” to general anaesthetic sessions at University Hospital Limerick and Nenagh Hospital, Clare patients who require such treatment added to the UHL waiting list. All sessions for children under the age of five must be carried out at UHL “as there must be a Paediatric Ward on site in case of an emergency”.
She stated, “The waiting list for patients awaiting dental treatment under GA is prioritised according to clinical need and chronologically. However it should be noted that if a patient on the waiting list presents with an emergency situation, they will be seen as a priority. As with other specialties, wait times for dental treatment may be affected by access to theatre, staffing and other resources”.
In total, 838 persons are awaiting dental treatment under general anaesthetic as of 16th February. Of this figure, 76 are under the age of five, 637 are between the age of five and sixteen with 45 youths in this bracket described as having additional needs, 17 are adult medical hard holders and 63 are adult medical card holders with additional needs.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Howard admitted she had misplaced her notes and thanked Dan Danaher of The Clare Champion for assisting to double-check her facts. She referenced the case of an Ennis family that have “two beautiful boys with special needs”. Cllr Howard recalled, “their little boy had a toothache, this child is non-verbal, both their children are special needs, he was harming and they knew he was in pain, they were back and forth to hospital, within six weeks they realised it was a tooth ache”. Up until November, the family had spent €13,000 to get private treatment.
“This thirteen year old can’t speak, he can’t sit on a dentist’s chair, he is not capable of it and he is marginalised,” Cllr Howard commented. She noted the increase on the waiting list from 827 to 838.
An emergency criteria has to kick in, Cllr Howard stressed. “He had terrible pain for six weeks which went undetected”.
Private treatment had to be sourced for the thirteen year old who underwent three extractions and one filling. He had a wait of five months but this could have been longer only for a cancellation in Galway.
Cllr Howard remarked, “I am so angry that this has taken so long, we all know how awful a toothache is but for it to continue for five months is cruelty. it would not happen in a third world country. The HSE needs to step up and put proper protocol in place to treat and care for these children”. She voiced her criticism of the HSE’s inability to recruit staff in every single category.
