The chief executive of the Health Service Executive Prof Brendan Drumm has said that it is unacceptable that children have to wait 12 to 18 months for appointments for orthodontic treatment.
However, Prof Drumm said that it would take five to six years before a full cohort of trained orthodontists is available in the public sector.
He said that the HSE was currently paying to have a number of people trained as orthodontists in the UK under contractual arrangements which will see them return to Ireland on qualification.
Prof Drumm said improvements in the orthodontic services would begin to be seen progressively.
In an interview with RTÉ on health services for children, Prof Drumm said the country was now having to deal with illnesses associated with affluence rather than the historic problems of illnesses caused by poverty.
He said that in addition to conditions such as obesity the health services would also have to provide supports for stress-related illnesses such as depression.
Prof Drumm said the HSE was investing in psychology services. Psychologists would form part of the new 100 primary care teams to be established around the country this year so that people could access these services in the community rather than having to "go searching throughout the hospital system".
Prof Drumm also confirmed that a site at Grangegorman on Dublin's northside was under consideration as the location for the new 380-bed national children's hospital.
Prof Drumm said he did not view Grangegorman as a "non-hospital site" as it was close to the Mater hospital.
He said the proposal for "co-location" between an adult hospital and the planned new paediatric centre should be considered in its broadest sense.
All of the main Dublin acute adult hospitals as well as the private sector Beacon group have expressed an interest in the project which could cost €500 million.
Prof Drumm said one problem in the adult hospitals in Dublin was that the tertiary or complex medical services were not on the one site.
He denied he had any vested interest in the decision on the location of the new children's hospital given his background as a paediatrician. He did not sit on the committee which would recommend the site for the new facility.
Prof Drumm said the institution where he had worked for 15 years - Our Lady's hospital in Crumlin - was the one that would not continue to exist in the future.
The HSE chief also said consultants in public hospitals would not be able to work in the new centres for fee-paying patients which the Government wants to develop on the grounds of public centres.
He said that while he welcomed private sector investment in such facilities, these new hospitals would have to find their own consultant staff. He said public hospital consultants would only be able to work in State hospitals.
