The proposed packages include services such as oral examinations that are already covered for medical card holders, but also some services, such as fissure sealants for young adults, that are new.
While welcoming the “long overdue” publication of the new oral health policy, 25 years after the previous one, and its focus on prevention, IDA president Dr Kieran O’Connor pointed out that his organisation’s members hadn’t been consulted on it in any meaningful way or involved in its formulation.Dr O’Connor said the association would need to study the plan carefully to see how it compared with the IDA’s vision for oral health services.
The new strategy is supportive of the current policy of water fluoridation and proposes a targeted topical fluoride programme, including a mouth-rinsing programme, for children over six years of age.