ACOSS releases report on the state of dental care

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has published a comprehensive report Fair Dental Care, and called on the Federal Government "to ensure that all people on concession cards have a free basic course of care every 2 years".

The ACOSS report states that "Australians most likely to be in pain and unable to access dental treatment are single parents, people on low incomes, people living in nursing homes, older people, people living in rural and remote areas and Indigenous people. People with poor dental health have difficulty eating and speaking and often have to suffer avoidable health problems such as tooth loss or gum disease".

Other statistics from Fair Dental Care include:

• About 500,000 people are on waiting lists around Australia for general dental care from public dental services – the average time on a waiting list is 27 months.
• 40% of Australians can not access dental care when they need it.
• There will be a national shortage of around 1500 dental staff by 2010.
• Consumers contributed nearly $3.4 billion or 67% of funding for dental services in 2004-05, compared to only $953 million from Government (19%) and $701 million from private health insurance funds (14%).
• Since 1999, there has been a 45% increase in the price of basic dental services.
• 21% of adults who are not eligible for public dental care avoided or delayed treatment because of the cost of basic dental care.
• Over ¼ of Australian adults experience painful aching because of problems with their teeth, mouth or dentures in 2002 and report behaviour such as avoiding certain foods to cope.

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance welcomes this report and commends it for review by all those concerned about access to basic dental care for low income earners. Parties contesting the Victorian State Election on 25 November should consider the report's recommendations in further refining their dental health policy platforms.