Kids’ dental services to be pulled from Navan

Children from the Navan area will have to travel to Dunshaughlin to access HSE dental services from next year, it has been confirmed.

While a date has not yet been given for the move, a HSE spokesperson said it would be later in 2023 with the temporary arrangement to be in place until Navan's new primary care centre is opened.

"Existing HSE Dental Services operating from Navan will be temporarily relocated to Dunshaughlin Health Centre later in 2023. Services will operate from Dunshaughlin until a new Primary Care Centre in Navan is constructed and opened.

No date has been fixed for the temporary move but it is likely to happen before the end of 2023," the spokesperson said.

The planned move is down to the current prefab building on the site of Our Lady's Hospital, not "being fit for purpose", with the HSE saying it cannot be cost effectively adapted in order to meet regulations and standards.

It means parents will have to travel over 20km to see a dentist, both for routine school screening and emergency appointments.

This arrangement will be in place until the Navan Primary Care Centre opens, which is still likely to be several years away after the project was dealt a major setback with planning permission for the development refused in July.

Meanwhile latest figures obtained from the HSE reveal that there are almost 5,000 children in the county waiting for their sixth class appointment. Children from 1st, 4th and 6th classes used to be seen but now only sixth class children are being called, with a massive backlog to be dealt with.

Some 260 children who were in sixth class in the 2019/2020 academic year, and now in third year in secondary school, are still waiting to be seen. Another 2,104 sixth class children from 2020/2021 remain on the list, while a further 2,586 children are waiting to be seen from last year's sixth class.