Healthcare in the Republic of Ireland
In 2023 there was a serious shortage of dentists in Ireland. Children were said to be waiting to wait up to 10 years for a dental check.  Only  620 dentists  were in the medical card scheme. There were about 1,600 in 2012. The scheme only gives people a restricted amount of treatments in the year. It  “places significant restrictions on the care that dentists can provide to public patients, with only tooth extractions being limitless”.