Dentists too thinly spread in rural Australia

The Australian Dental Association issued a media release yesterday calling on the Federal Government to do more to address the maldistribution of the current dental workforce, which is negatively impacting on the delivery of services in areas of need such as in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia.

Key recommendations in the release are as follows:

"The ADA calls on the Commonwealth Government to take the following steps to alleviate dental workforce shortages in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia:
• Fund an optional clinical placement year for graduating dentists (University and overseas trained dentists). This placement year, to be served mainly in the public dental sector (although some private rural placements should be considered in areas of special need) would increase access to dental care for public sector patients and significantly reduce waiting lists. The ADA believes in a clinical placement year but acknowledges this will require additional infrastructure and mentors.
• Create further scholarships for dental students from rural and remote parts of Australia to encourage graduates to practice in these areas.
• Extend the general practitioner and medical specialist relocation program to dentists. (This program offers financial grants for GPs and medical specialists to relocate to areas of medical doctor shortage.) Currently, “doctors can apply for grants of up to $30,000 to establish a new practice, or up to $20,000 to join an existing practice in an area of doctor shortage”.
• Create a moratorium or debt forgiveness on all dental graduates who in turn agree to provide their services in regional, rural and remote areas or in the public sector. The extent of the moratorium or debt forgiveness could reflect the period of time the dental graduate undertakes practice in these particular areas. The longer the period of guaranteed service in regional, rural or remote areas, the greater the moratorium or debt forgiveness.
• Provide accommodation assistance to enable under graduate students to attend rural clinics as is in place for medical students."

VicHealth chief calls for junk food ad ban

Todd Harper, CEO of VicHealth, is reported in the Sunday Age yesterday calling on the government to legislate to ban junk food advertising in the interests of addressing the obesity and diabetes epidemics.

The same risk factors leading to increased rates of obesity and diabetes also contribute to dental decay, and three member bodies of the Victorian and National Oral Health Alliances, the Australian Dental Association, Australian Dental & Oral Health Therapists Association and Public Health Association of Australia, are also participants in the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children.

According to their website, "This coalition includes many key Australian health and consumer organisations, and is calling for a marked reduction in the commercial promotion of foods and beverages to children under 14 years old. The first step they advocate is to extend the statutory regulations to prohibit all television food and beverage advertising during programs where children make up a significant proportion of the viewing audience. This does not preclude the promotion of healthy eating messages to children through non-commercial social marketing".

The Pull the Plug on Food Advertising campaign is being run to help make the job of parents easier, and to give our kids a healthier future.

Register Online - Sign on to the Pull the Plug campaign

For more information visit http://www.chdf.org.au/foodadstokids/

Government extends EPC dental scheme

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott announced today that eligible patients receiving dental treatment under the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) Scheme would now receive up to $4250 worth of Medicare funded care over two consecutive years.

This news was welcomed by ADA President Dr John Matthews, who said "the ADA had understood that the Enhanced Primary Care program would provide eligible patients with a rebate of $2000 per annum. The announcement of the rebate being $4000 over two years will enable a more comprehensive delivery of dental treatment to help those patients more effectively deal with the complications of chronic illness."

While the ADA welcomed the increase, it also expressed concern that funding has not been targetted to the financially disadvantaged and particularly those 650,000 on dental waiting lists. Similar concerns were also expressed by the Opposition.
These new Medicare EPC arrangements are due to commence from 1 November 2007, subject to the passage of legislation. The new dental service arrangements involve an estimated cost of about $380m over four years.

ADA Inc calls for elderly not to be ignored

The Australian Dental Association has urged the Government to address the oral health needs of Australia's elderly following the National Seniors Australia (NSA) launch of its election priorities in Parliament House.

In a media release issued today, ADA President Dr John Matthews noted that "for people aged over 65 years, the prevalence of tooth decay, gum disease, dry mouth and oral cancer, is higher than for the general population. Frequency of teeth extractions associated with gum disease also increases with age. Access to dental care can become more difficult as people get older, while oral diseases have the potential to impact negatively on older people's general health and social functioning."

Dr Matthews said; "It's time for Governments to take responsibility and implement the range of initiatives outlined in Australia's National Oral Health Plan, signed off by all government Health Ministers, to improve older people's oral health."

New research on access to dental care

A new survey on access to dental care, released by Australia Fair, has revealed that:

• 90% of people think that regular visits to the dentist are important to maintain healthy teeth and mouths;
• 23% of people say they haven’t seen a dentist in over 2 years;
• 46% of people reported that it would be difficult for them to pay for basic preventative treatment ($300) today;
• 75% of people stated that the Federal Government must at least share the funding for dental care and only 5% think it is State Government responsibility alone;
• 46% of people stated that the cost of dental care influences their decision to see a dentist regularly.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is a participating body in Australia Fair, and ACOSS Executive Director Andrew Johnson said, "This research reinforces the fact that Australia has a crisis in access to dental care, particularly for low income and disadvantaged Australians."

Australia Fair has also released a broadcast-quality clip on You Tube, an online letter which Australians can e-mail to their Federal MPs asking for Federal Government support for dental care for people on low incomes, and a participation kit for local groups to find out more about oral health.