The Preventative Health Journal - Australia & New Zealand

Urgent action on public dental services is required to ensure all Australians have access to ‘first world’ standards of oral health care, according to the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA).

The AHHA is the peak national body representing public hospitals, area health services, community health centres and public aged care providers.

“Australia is a rich country with some of the best-trained and most highly skilled oral health professionals in the world. We have the capacity to provide dental care to all Australians, regardless of their level of income or geographic location. However, due to the inadequate funding of public dental services from a Commonwealth level even basic dental care is inaccessible for many people on low incomes. The result is that we are living in a first world country with ‘third world’ oral health,” Prue Power, the executive director for AHHA, has said.

“AHHA is deeply disappointed in the failure of the Government and Opposition to reach agreement on implementing the Commonwealth Dental Health Program (CDHP). The CDHP was part of the Rudd Government’s election platform in 2007. However, because the Government made its implementation contingent on closure of the previous Coalition Government’s Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Plan, the CDHP has not seen the light of day.

“One of the consequences is a budget blow-out in the more expensive and poorly targeted Medicare-based dental programme. This means that up to one million low-income and disadvantaged Australians have missed out on basic oral health care in the last three years. As their preventable dental problems become more serious, this will have a long term negative effect on their health and well-being and result in higher costs over the longer term to our health system, the economy and the consumers themselves.

“AHHA is committed to finding solutions to the current public dental health crisis and is convening the Chomping into Reform seminar in Melbourne on 3-4 June to bring health stakeholders together to promote ways of improving Australia’s oral health status.

“This seminar will focus on the following important dental health care issues:

- Improving access to and managing demand for public oral and dental care
- Integrating oral and dental care into general healthcare and well being
- Improving preventive oral and dental care programmes

“AHHA hopes that all stakeholders with an interest in dental health care will attend this important event,” Power added.

For more information on Chomping Into Reform, or to register online go to http://bit.ly/aXNsxf. You can also register on the day at the venue -  the RACV City Club in Melbourne.