Press Release 01/10/09 Stop Rotting Our Dental and Oral Care - Government will cause more human suffering by axing Dental Treatment Benefit Scheme says Deputy Coonan This Government must 'Stop the Rot' by reversing the recommendation to abolish our Dental Treatment Benefit Scheme, as outlined in An Bord Snip Nua. Deputy Noel Coonan received an Irish Dental Association petition which almost 180 North Tipperary people have signed in protest of the cuts. “There is understandably a swell of resistance growing regarding axing Treatment Benefits that accumulate to people who are paying insurance premiums through PRSI contributions. The petition I received seems to cover the Thurles and Templemore area only and does not even touch on the remainder of the constituency,” said Deputy Coonan. “I'm a strong supporter of cutting waste and achieving value for money for the taxpayer but I believe there are other areas we could look to save money instead of robbing people of preventative dental treatment. Yet again, the Government is cutting health care services that promote patient care. Many patients will witness corrosion in their oral and dental health if this scheme is withdrawn,” said the Fine Gael TD. The IDA 'Stop The Rot petition to save your PRSI scheme' says these cuts are unnecessary, unfair and undesirable to ongoing health care. The Dental Treatment Benefit Scheme has provided Dental Care in the form of regular checkups and other preventative dental care to hundreds of thousands of people through their PRSI for free and also subsidised other Dental Treatments. Fine Gael has always been a strong exponent of prevention being better than cure and the Party's Faircare Health Policy wants to see a National Body Test where people will get annual age appropriate checkups. Therefore the Party supports the retention of preventative Dental Treatment for people. “Fine Gael is of the opinion that a benefit cost analysis of this situation will show human suffering and that the discontinuation of the Scheme will not save money as people will end up needing acute care, many will end up back in the Medical Card Scheme at greater cost to the Taxpayer. Furthermore many oral cancers will be missed and cost the state considerably more money,” concluded Deputy Coonan. In 2008, the Scheme enabled approximately 1.5 million dental treatments to be provided on a State supported basis to eligible patients in 2008, including attendance by an estimated 400,000 patients for examination. Ends Noel Coonan TD 086 2427733