Girl from Greysteel told she had to wait a year to get tooth out despite not being able to eat: Cara Hunter

That’s according to East Derry MLA Cara Hunter who raised waiting lists for specialist dental care for children in the Northern Trust and the Western Trust this week.

She specifically raised the case of a family from Greysteel whose daughter ‘has complex needs and was told that she would have to wait a year to get a tooth that was causing her so much bother that she could not eat taken out’.

"Minister, recognising the pressures on dental surgery, has your Department explored what we could do on a North/South basis? Has it looked at whether we could create a scheme for the children who are struggling with the waiting lists for surgery and find some way to resolve the issue and limit the waiting times?” she asked the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt.

Mr. Nesbitt said he was happy to engage with Ms. Hunter on the individual case.

"As a more general rule of thumb, the North/South reimbursement scheme, which was successful, no longer operates, because there is no budget for it.

"A bid was made in the previous financial year for budget to allow that scheme to be reintroduced, but that bid was unsuccessful. That is the position that we find ourselves in.

"Should that position change, as I have said in the House before, I am more than open to and would welcome sensible North/South cooperation,” he said.

The minister outlined how community dental services (CDS) in health and social care trusts provide dental care to patients who, for various reasons, are not suitable for treatment in the primary care setting.

“For young children or those with additional needs or in particularly complex cases, it may be necessary for the treatment to be taken under general anaesthetic.

"To ensure that the most urgent cases are treated as quickly as possible, community dental services teams operate a strict triage and prioritisation process for general anaesthetic that is based on clinical need.

"That means that, for patients whose cases are considered to be acute or urgent, waiting times can be relatively short, but, for those in the routine category, waiting times can be significantly longer.

"The majority of children receive all their dental care, including extractions, under local anaesthetic in general dental services,” he said.

Mr. Nesbitt explained that extractions under general anaesthetic are carried out for children who are too young to tolerate local anaesthetic, for those requiring multiple extractions or for those displaying disproportionate anxiety.

"The trusts' CDS teams provided the following information on the current estimated average waiting times from the time of initial referral. For the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, it is six to 12 months for paediatric dental extraction lists and eight months for patients with additional needs requiring comprehensive treatment.

"For the Western Trust, it is one to two months for paediatric dental extractions and one to two months for patients with additional needs requiring comprehensive treatment,” he said.

Derry posts highest rate for dental fillings, crowns and extractions for adults and children