In Monaghan half of the children aren't receiving their entitled dental checks on time.
That's according to the CEO of the Irish Dental Association, Fintan Hourihan.
Mr Hourihan believes the sector is in a state of crisis, and bordering on collapse, due to a reduction in the number of dentists.
This is resulting in large numbers of children not being seen when they are entitled to it.
Children are supposed to be seen at age eight in first or second class.
In Monaghan half of them are not being seen until second year of secondary school.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan show this morning Fintan Hourihan noted the importance of the scheme versus going private.
"I mean clearly people do have the option to go private but the value of the HSE school screening service is that the dentist goes to the school, sees the children in the school, makes sure that all of the children regardless of their circumstance or their family income gets the chance to see the dentist for an initial screening. That is all that it is, initial screening. But the reason for that is because the earlier that the child sees the dentist and the earlier the child gets to see what is good oral health, how to brush their teeth, what a good diet looks like and it's also an opportunity for the dentist to detect problems and to direct them to a dentist. The service provides a limited amount of treatment but now unfortunately any treatment is providing is emergency pain relief and the school screening, the prevention side of it is collapsed because there simply aren't enough people there to go and visit the schools. "
