The closure of the HSE Dental Clinic at St James's Hospital has been described as unacceptable by the Irish Dental Association.

The clinic provides care for around 3,000 children a year who need multiple extractions under general anaesthetic.

IDA Chief Executive Fintan Hourihan said the service was shut at short notice at the start of this month, without alternative facilities available in advance.

He said a failure to provide care in a timely manner will consign children to repeat courses of antibiotics and poses an unacceptable risk to their health and the possibility of severe dental infection.

Mr Hourihan called on the Health Service Executive to make sure funding is available to ensure children are not left waiting more than a couple of weeks before receiving treatment.

He said some children are being sent to private hospitals as an interim measure.

The association said the move was the latest in a series of stealth cuts being applied to the HSE dental services.

The HSE said the facility at St James's was a temporary one and there was concern regarding the suitability of the building as a day theatre for the provision of children's general anaesthesia.

A recent risk assessment resulted in the decision to discontinue the service.

The most recent facility was built 13 years ago, as a temporary facility, due to the demolition of the previous building, to facilitate the Luas works on site.

The HSE said that local dental management will assess cases as they receive them and alternative provision will be offered.

Work on establishing where this can be done safely is ongoing.

The HSE also said that management of emergency care will be undertaken through the dental service and planning has started for interim arrangements.

For the past 30 years, the HSE (and the old health board) provided the service at St James's for children in the greater Dublin area, usually for five to seven-year-olds.

The HSE said that an alternative location for the dental service is being sourced and normal service is expected to resume early next year.

It said that in the meantime urgent cases requiring immediate treatment due to pain or swelling are being dealt with as necessary at private centres in Dublin at no cost to the families. 

The HSE said that parents who have concerns should "liaise closely with their local public dental clinic and particularly so if there is any deterioration or pain being experienced since their last dental assessment."