Dentistry crisis in Republic of Ireland reported
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- Published: Monday, 20 April 2020 06:06
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A newspaper report from the Republic of Ireland tells of how the Covid-19 pandemic there has left dentists struggling to deliver any sort of service. The advent of Covid-19 means the options to do safe dentistry are severely limited. Since March, when the Government introduced restrictive measures, the Irish Dental Association has said that the vast majority of dental practices are limited to emergency treatment or had closed.
The report in the Irish Examiner[i] describes similar experiences to dental practices in the UK. A Cork City-based dentist said that 80% of the dentist’s job “has gone out the window”. Like many dentists, he’s providing a tele-dentistry service, where he advises and prescribes over the phone. “We’re limited to treating pain and swelling.”
The Irish Dental Association has called on the Government to establish designated centres around Ireland for patients to receive emergency dental care during the coronavirus crisis. And they’ve asked that these be provided to all patients, not just those with medical cards.
Talking about financial viability, with 3,283 active dentists on the Dental Council of Ireland’s register, the Irish Dental Association warned in mid-March that the dental profession in Ireland was on the brink of collapse, and that urgent direction was needed from the Government if it’s to survive the Covid-19 crisis. In a survey of 358 private dentists around Ireland, which outlined the scale of the crisis, nearly half estimated a drop of at least 90% in practice income in the medium to long term as a result of Covid-19.
[i] https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/healthandlife/in-the-teeth-of-a-crisis-pandemic-leaves-dentists-struggling-to-deliver-a-service-994557.html
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