The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs and most of the State's dentists remain deadlocked in a dispute which has left over 1.5 million PRSI workers without dental cover.
Both sides indicated their availability for talks yesterday, but were unable to agree the terms for negotiations or intervention by an independent arbitrator.
The Minister, Ms Coughlan, proposed the appointment of an arbitrator, but only if dentists stopped charging fees in excess of those stipulated in their contract with her Department.
Since March, many dentists have increased the top-up fees they charge PRSI patients, saying medical inflation has outstripped the amounts remitted by the Department for such treatment.
The Department has responded this week by excluding all dentists who charge increased fees under the PRSI dental benefit scheme. At least 650 of the 720 dentists in the scheme will be excluded.
The Department has advised patients to arrange for treatment with the minority of dentists who are not charging extra fees.
The Irish Dental Association accused the Minister of "effectively collapsing" the scheme over the bank holiday weekend by withdrawing cover.
It pointed out that a claim for higher fees was first lodged with the Department over two years ago, and the higher charges have been applied since last March.
The secretary-general of the IDA, Mr Donal Atkins, claimed that medical inflation was rising at five times the rate of the amount remitted to dentists by the Department. Last year €44 million was paid out under the scheme, which was used by almost 433,000 people.
Ms Coughlan told RTÉ Radio that she had a responsibility to protect customers who were PRSI contributors. "It is unfair to expect me to negotiate in a situation where they are continuing the dispute contrary to the existing contract," she said. She accused dentists of wanting to provide a two-tier dental service for PRSI and private patients.
The Department has advised patients to ask their dentist if he or she is levying additional costs before being treated. If this is the case, they can contact the Department at Lo-Call 1890 400 400 ext 4480 to obtain information on dentists still operating in the scheme.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, accused the Government of incompetence, saying the dispute would leave about 9,000 people without dental treatment by the end of this week.
