Inishowen dental clinics set to reopen soon

The temporary closures of several dental facilities across Donegal was raised at this week’s meeting of the Regional Health Committee.

Donegal Councillor Tom Conaghan had asked what the expected date was for all the community dental clinics in Donegal to reopen.

John Hayes regional HSE Chief Officer said that of the clinics had already reopened across the county, in Carndonagh, Letterkenny, Lifford, Creeslough, Falcarragh, Dungloe, Killybegs, Donegal Town and Ballyshannon.

Four remain closed at this time, among them Moville and Buncrana.

Mr Hayes said the Moville dental clinic “is ready to reopen and will do so shortly”.

With regards to Buncrana Dental Clinic, he said: “This clinic is due to undergo some remedial work. This work is due to be completed by Christmas with a start date for clinics for late December 2020/early January 2021.”

The other two still closed are Glenties, which is due to reopen in December, and Stranorlar, which is “currently closed due to infrastructure problems”, with plans to relocate it put on hold due to the pandemic.

Mr Hayes said: “To summarise, there are currently nine community dental practices open with a further three due to open in December 2020/January 2021.”