More than 100,000 schoolchildren missed out on dental screening last year because of a lack of dentists in the public dental service.
The number of full-time dentists in the public dental service has fallen to 253, down from 330 in 2006, according to figures from the Irish Dental Association.
The public care includes providing dental screenings for schoolchildren, emergency care for public patients in dental hospitals and services for special care patients.
It left around 104,000 schoolchildren losing out on dental screening last year.
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Fintan Hourihan is the Chief Executive of the Irish Dental Association, and he spoke to Maria McCann on 'Deise Today' this morning (Tues).
You can listen back to the piece by clicking on the image above...
