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Dr Clodagh McAllister of Fairview Dental, Dublin announced overall winner at Colgate Caring Dentist Awards 2022. Dr McAllister recognised for diagnosing potentially fatal liver condition in patient. Without Dr McAllister’s speedy intervention, doctors told the mother-of-two that she would have had a maximum of 12 weeks to live. In nominating Dr McAllister, her patient said: “It is because of Clodagh that my children still have a mother and my husband a wife. Clodagh saved my life.”

It was great to see dentists and team members working in the HSE meet in person again for the first time in three years. Morale and burnout are real issues for our members right now but there was little doubt that everyone who attended said it was so important to meet colleagues, share experiences and sound advice in this time of great stress within the service.

• Some parts of the country are facing backlogs of almost 10 years in relation to HSE School Dental Screening Service. • Children who should be receiving three check-ups in primary school not being seen until fourth year of secondary school. • General Anaesthetic waiting lists also running up to 2 years in some parts of the country. • Number of public-only dentists has dropped by almost a quarter (23%), from 330 in 2006 to 254 in 2022. • HSE need to hire 76 dentists immediately to bring the service back to where it was 15 years ago, says Irish Dental Association.