Dental Benefit on Medical Card or PRSI contribution

blueredface

Hi there,

I'm on A1 PRSI Class and have been paying my contribution for years now and should have enough PRSI contribution what is required.
I also have medical card which I mentioned to receptionist of dental clinic I spoke who said only initial teeth checkup will cover but not teeth scaling (cleaning) which I have to pay €50/-.

On today's Taoiseach's tweet on Treatment Benefits, he mentioned as per welfare.ie as below:

Would below means Scale (Teeth cleaning) and polish covers the cost of a dentist?

Could you please share your recent experience if free teeth scaling / cleaning can only be offered by certain dentist (cheap scaling charges) or all Dentist on Social Protection's panel should treat same way/same charges ?

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Treatment-Benefit1.aspx

Dental Benefit


Under this scheme, the Department pays the full cost of an oral examination once a calendar year. From 28/10/17, a payment towards either a scale and polish or, if clinically necessary, periodontal treatment, is also available once per calendar year (depending on the normal cost of the cleaning, there may be a balance to be paid by the customer). Treatment is provided by private dentists who are on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection's panel. Lists of dentists on the panel are available on welfare.ie. Most dentists are on the panel so you should not have any difficulty finding one. The dentist will have the application forms. These forms require details such as your Personal Public Service Number (PPS number). If you are a dependent spouse or civil partner, you should give the PPS number of the insured person.

davo10

Hi blueredface.

I'm afraid the message being sent by the Government/Dept of Social Welfare is misleading and even the Dentists don't know for certain how this new scheme is going to work.

They rolled it out without guidelines, correct patient forms to sign and the welfarepartners site when dentists were to use to check eligibility will not be live for at least 2 more weeks.

If you are approved for dental benefit under your PRSI contributions, you will be entitled to one free check up per year with participating dentists.

You will also be entitled to a scale & polish for €15. However, this is not the type of extensive cleaning you would get from a Hygienist/Dentist if you have subgingival plaque or pocketing. A scale and polish is more of a light cleaning to remove staining, nothing more. If you have singingival plaque, like the stuff most of us have at the backs/between our teeth, and associated pocketing, then a more extensive, "protracted" cleaning is necessary. This is the type of cleaning you get when you visit a Hygienist and is the most common, and most beneficial treatment (what's the point in paying €15 for a scale & polish and all the plaque is left under your gum?). This more extensive treatment costs more, the Government contributes €42 towards the cost of this type of cleaning, so if a Clinic charges €65, you pay €65 - €42 = €23.00.

I hope this helps, we have phoned the Dept of Social Welfare for clarification, the reply we got was "We know as much as you do, wait a while longer and you'll get information about the new scheme".

blueredface

davo10 wrote: »

Hi blueredface.

I'm afraid the message being sent by the Government/Dept of Social Welfare is misleading and even the Dentists don't know for certain how this new scheme is going to work.

They rolled it out without guidelines, correct patient forms to sign and the welfarepartners site when dentists were to use to check eligibility will not be live for at least 2 more weeks.

If you are approved for dental benefit under your PRSI contributions, you will be entitled to one free check up per year with participating dentists.

You will also be entitled to a scale & polish for €15. However, this is not the type of extensive cleaning you would get from a Hygienist/Dentist if you have subgingival plaque or pocketing. A scale and polish is more of a light cleaning to remove staining, nothing more. If you have singingival plaque, like the stuff most of us have at the backs/between our teeth, and associated pocketing, then a more extensive, "protracted" cleaning is necessary. This is the type of cleaning you get when you visit a Hygienist and is the most common, and most beneficial treatment (what's the point in paying €15 for a scale & polish and all the plaque is left under your gum?). This more extensive treatment costs more, the Government contributes €42 towards the cost of this type of cleaning, so if a Clinic charges €65, you pay €65 - €42 = €23.00.

I hope this helps, we have phoned the Dept of Social Welfare for clarification, the reply we got was "We know as much as you do, wait a while longer and you'll get information about the new scheme".

Thanks davo10 for response.
Please update here if you hear anything about this.