THE number of children in West Cork being treated under the school dental service has fallen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic, figures show.

HSE data shows 1,033 children and special care needs patients were screened in West Cork in 2024, with just 758 in West Cork in 2025.

The Primary Care Dental Service’s school programme screens second and sixth classes.

There was a decline of 36% across the county from 2017 to 2024, which the HSE said was due to a fall in the number of clinicians available to the service.

Colm Burke TD called for urgent and sustained action to address the growing shortage of dentists across Cork, warning that children and those with special needs are being disproportionately affected by staffing shortages.

‘The figures confirm what families already know, that there simply are not enough dentists in the public system in Cork,’ he said. ‘This is most stark for children, where delays to screening and treatment can have lasting consequences.’

The Irish Dental Association has highlighted that Ireland has lost more than 640 dentists providing care under the Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) in the past 12 years, falling from 1,452 dentists in 2012 to just 810 in 2024.

Deputy Burke warned that the continued decline in dentist numbers left children in Cork waiting ‘far too long for basic dental care’. He concluded: ‘Access to dental care should not depend on the ability to pay.’