{"id":22088,"date":"2026-09-10T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oco.ie\/?post_type=library&#038;p=22088"},"modified":"2026-09-10T09:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T08:05:25","slug":"behind-every-smile","status":"publish","type":"library","link":"https:\/\/www.oco.ie\/ga\/library\/behind-every-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Every Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The impact of the ongoing crisis in children\u2019s public dental health services in Ireland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The OCO\u2019s <em>Behind Every Smile<\/em> report seeks to address issues in Ireland\u2019s public dental service, which is currently failing to consistently meet the needs of all children. Complaints to the OCO from families affected by delays in accessing public dental services highlight the impact this is having on their children first hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our report makes several recommendations to Government that we hope will be incorporated into its action plan due to be released shortly. <em>Behind Every Smile<\/em> also features the story of Lucy*, a young girl in contact with the OCO whose experience illustrates what can happen when a child with a serious, time-sensitive need is placed on a waiting list without adequate review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":22078,"template":"","resource_type":[],"resource_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22088","library","type-library","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Behind Every Smile - Ombudsman for Children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oco.ie\/ga\/library\/behind-every-smile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind Every Smile - Ombudsman for Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The impact of the ongoing crisis in children\u2019s public dental health services in Ireland The OCO\u2019s Behind Every Smile report seeks to address issues in Ireland\u2019s public dental service, which is currently failing to consistently meet ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oco.ie\/ga\/library\/behind-every-smile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ombudsman for Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OCOIreland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oco.ie\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/behind-every-smile-NEW.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"184\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OCO_ireland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/\",\"name\":\"Behind Every Smile - Ombudsman for Children\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/preprod.oco.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/behind-every-smile-NEW.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T08:30:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/behind-every-smile-NEW.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/behind-every-smile-NEW.png\",\"width\":184,\"height\":264},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/behind-every-smile\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Baile\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Library\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.oco.ie\\\/ga\\\/library\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Behind Every Smile\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/preprod.oco.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/preprod.oco.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ombudsman for Children\",\"description\":\"The OCO investigates complaints about services provided to children by public organisations. 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