The specialist dental services provided for among others, children with additional needs, is to be reinstated in Cavan-Monaghan next month. The service had been suspended from July through to the end of September "due to paediatric nursing shortages within Cavan General Hospital", the HSE explained. A statement from the HSE went on to say the hospital was hit, like so many others across the country, by the national recruitment freeze.
It is sometimes necessary to carry out dental work on children with anxiety or behavioural issues or with conditions like autism, under general anesthetic, which, can only be provided in a hospital setting. This type of dental treatment was carried out in Cavan General by a multidisciplinary team once weekly but, one parent was told the service was going to disappear because of staffing issues. However, when Northern Sound contacted the HSE for comment we were told management had sought and approved the recruitment of a senior special care dental surgeon and a senior clinical dental surgeon to meet the "increase in demand for oral health care for adults and children with special care needs" here.
"The situation has now been resolved and the dental general anesthetic lists for our patients are scheduled to resume in October," the HSE statement reads. Paddy McAloon's son has autism and recently had to undergo dental treatment under anaesthetic. He said the service is vital for families like his: "My son Rhys was in a bad way fr seeing a dentist but, obviously we all hate going to the dentist but, he especially hates it so, he had to go under general anesthetic. I've been in with several times with him under general anesthetic and we've had some harrowing experiences and some OK ones but, this particular time just from start to finish, the service was the last word; very good with special needs. It meant so much to us and without it Rhys would've been in pain for months and months so, it's very much needed."
