Victorian Oral Health Alliance Blog

Budget does not change waiting time

2010-05-05T14:12:00.004+10:00

The waiting times for public dental services remains at 23 months, according to the 2010-11 Victorian Budget papers. Likewise, the waiting time for dentures stays at 22 months.
The Budget has increased funding for dental services by $9.8 million to $164.3 million. A target of 331,000 people will be treated for the year.
The increase in the cost of dental supplies and equipment along with the State’s rapidly growing population has to be weighed against the Budget increase.
The papers also make mention of the State investing $39 million in a range of preventative health programs including $20 million over four years to improve access to public dental care.

Oral Health of Health Cardholders

2009-06-01T12:55:00.005+10:00

The latest dental research paper from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare looks at the oral health of health cardholders. Entitled Oral health of health cardholders attending for dental care in the private and public sectors, research by Assoc. Prof. D S Brennan revealed:

Cardholders that visited privately had similar numbers of teeth present compared with those that visited the public sector, with the exception being higher numbers of teeth among people aged 65 years or older who last visited privately compared with the public sector.
No differences in caries experience were evident by place of last visit among cardholders who last visited for a check-up. However, among cardholders who last visited for a dental problem, those who visited the public sector had more decayed teeth overall, and those aged 65 years or older had more missing teeth but fewer filled teeth, compared with those who last visited in the private sector.
There was no significant difference in the prevalence of periodontal pockets of 4 mm or more by place of last visit either for those who last visited for a check-up or for those who last visited for a dental problem.
Among those who visited for a check-up, a higher percentage of cardholders who visited in the public sector received extractions in the 35–44 years age group compared with those who visited privately.

Budget targets public dental waiting lists

2009-05-05T16:36:00.002+10:00

The State Budget (large file - see pp 100-101) has brought little relief to the swelling list of public dental patients.

Although increasing funding by around 6% to reduce public dental waiting lists, the Government has not provided much needed dental services to residents in nursing homes.

The Government aims to provide dental services to 314,700 people – an increase of 9700 or 3% - while maintaining the current treatment waiing times of 23 months for dental treatment and 22 months for dentures.

Additional capital expenditure on new clinics, especially in regional Victoria is welcome.

Cost of public dental care in Victoria

2008-12-12T12:11:00.000+11:00

The first comprehensive study of the comparative costs of public dental care in Victoria was launched today.

The Dental Costs Study investigated the costs of delayed dental treatment of users of public dental health clinics among two groups of dental patients – one group was on the waiting list for more than two years; the other for two to four months.

The cost of proposed dental treatment for people in the study ranged from $46 to more than $4000. The average cost was $924.

The key findings are:
Public dental policy should promote preventing avoidable tooth loss. This should include early identification of need, early intervention, prevention and appropriate treatment.
Public dental clinics need to create supportive environments that enable oral health practitioners to provide effective dental treatment and preventative care.

The study was conducted Dianella Community Health, Broadmeadows, by the Health Issues Centre.

Southern Health gets $100,000 to tackle dental waiting times

2008-07-17T15:17:00.002+10:00

The Victorian Government has given Southern Health $100,000 to tackle public dental waiting times.

In his Media Release announcing the extra funds, Health Minister Daniel Andrews said the funding will be used to identify and meet public demand for dental services at the Casey Community Health Service and Greater Dandenong Community Health Service. He said Southern Health will use a UK system which will allow clients to see a dentist or other health professional at a time and date convenient to them.

Budget fails public dentistry

2008-05-07T13:31:00.000+10:00

The Victorian State Budget does nothing to address some of the worst gaps in the Victorian health system, according to the Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA).
VOHA Tony McBride spokesman said today that the Budget fails thousands of Victorians most in need of immediate dental care, “bordering on wilful neglect”.
He said the Budget offers less per person this year. Mr McBride said that the unchanged dental treatment targets are an effective decrease 3.45%.
To read VOHA's media release, click here.

State-wide general dental waiting list up slightly

2007-12-10T09:59:00.000+11:00

There were 112,337 Victorians waiting for general dental care at the end of last June, according to the 2007 DHSV Quality of Care Report, Reasons to Smile. The previous year there were 110,579 people waiting for general dental care – a 14% fall from 2004-05 (168,366). The agency's Annual Report outlines a number of achievements during 2006-07:

Providing treatment to 304,565 patients – a 1.4% increase on the previous year
Of these, DHSV treated 125,781 patients directly, with the remainder being treated by community dental agencies and private sector providers
The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne’s emergency department saw 17,951 patients – a 16.4% increase

NHMRC reaffirms support for fluoridation

2007-11-20T14:18:00.000+11:00

The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia's peak health science research body, has recently issued a Public Statement on The Efficacy and Safety of Fluoridation 2007 reaffirming its support for this major disease prevention measure.

The updated NHMRC recommendation reads:

"Fluoridation of drinking water remains the most effective and socially equitable means of achieving community-wide exposure to the caries prevention effects of fluoride. It is recommended that water be fluoridated in the target range of 0.6 to 1.1 mg/L, depending on climate, to balance reduction of dental caries and occurrence of dental fluorosis."

Victorian dental waiting list data updated

2007-10-18T15:31:00.000+10:00

Waiting times for public dental care as at June 2007 were recently updated at the Your Hospitals website, published by the Department of Human Services.

The VOHA website has now collated all of the new data, and provided summaries and graphs which provide a much clearer picture of trends and the overall situation.

While there have been improvements at many clinics, the average waiting time across the State remains at just over 23 months, and patients in some areas still experience waiting times of 4 to 5 years.

Dental report card - Federal Election 2007

2007-10-12T14:51:00.000+10:00

A report card on the dental policies proposed by the major parties participating in the forthcoming Federal Election has been published by the ADA Inc.

The National Oral Health Alliance, representing a range of professional. community, welfare and consumer groups, issued a media release on 18 September which called for all parties to:

As a first step, ensure that all people on concession cards have a free basic course of dental care every 2 years;
Provide the funding for this initiative through the States and Territories on the condition that the States and Territories bring their own expenditure up to the new level of Commonwealth funding, extend water fluoridation to all communities, ensure that all children and eligible adults receive one course of general oral health care every two years, and ensure that no one waits longer than 24 hours to receive emergency dental care for swelling, infection and bleeding, or serious and persistent pain;
Conduct a full national review of the current oral health workforce.

Duelling dental programs

2007-09-20T17:48:00.000+10:00

The Federal Opposition has announced that a Labor Government would reinstate the Commonwealth dental program at a cost of $290 million over three years. The ALP suggests that this program would create up to one million additional dental sessions over this period.

Under the scheme, the money would be given to the States and Territories enabling them to supplement existing public dental services or buy private sector appointments for public patients. Currently about 650,000 people are on public dental waiting lists.

The Coalition’s dental program gives Medicare funding for dental care in the private system for people with chronic health conditions that affect their oral health and the elderly. It is costed at $385 million over four years - which is roughly the same annual allocation as is offered by the ALP scheme.

ADA’s Federal President, Dr John Matthews, said there were merits in both plans but questioned the capacity of Labor’s scheme to provide one million more visits.

The National Oral Health Alliance called on all parties to ensure that all concession cardholders had a free basic dental care every two years, extend water fluoridation to all communities, and conduct a national review of the oral health workforce.

Children's Television Advertising Standards Review

2007-09-17T10:33:00.000+10:00

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has published public submissions in response to their review of the Children’s Television Standards (CTS) at their website.

According to the ACMA, this review "aims to ensure that the CTS are operating effectively in the current environment and to identify the building blocks required to position the CTS for the future media environment".

A number of organisations associated with the Victorian Oral Health Alliance have made submissions to this review, with special emphasis on banning junk food advertising to children, and copies of these can be accessed at the ACMA website. Look for submissions by the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children, the Australian Dental Association, VicHealth, and Choice, amongst others.

Dentists too thinly spread in rural Australia

2007-08-31T09:26:00.000+10:00

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

2007-08-20T15:19:00.000+10:00

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

2007-08-14T14:10:00.000+10:00

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

2007-08-10T16:59:00.000+10:00

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

2007-08-03T12:39:00.000+10:00

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.

Physicians say "put the mouth back in the body"

2007-07-11T16:00:00.000+10:00

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) recently issued a media release calling on state and Federal governments to "finally realise that the mouth can no longer be excluded from the body, and that oral health cannot be separated from health in general".

Professor Stephen Leeder, RACP spokesperson and co-director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy said health policies, including health financing, needed to take account of this reality.

“There is increasing research and awareness of the connection between oral and general health,” he said.

“The failure to treat dental problems can lead to, or exacerbate, other illnesses elsewhere in the body. For example poor oral health has been linked to arthritis, coronary heart disease, diabetes and cardiovascular disease to varying degrees.

“And for children, dental caries is the single most common chronic childhood disease."

“There’s a contest at present between the States and the Commonwealth as to who should pay for public dentistry. We have yet to care for the hundreds of thousands of people waiting for treatment in public dental services. The oral health care scene in rural areas is especially troubling.”

“The RACP clearly perceives the unity of physical and dental health,” Professor Leeder said.

“The public dental workforce at present often faces the demoralising task of extracting rather than saving teeth, because by the time patients get to see them, it is too late for dental restoration.”

Professor Leeder’s comments were based on two dental health policy papers commissioned by the Menzies Centre in recent years from Professor John Spencer, Australia’s leading dental epidemiologist, in Adelaide.

“The various governments must also re-think how the dental workforce is trained and used and how problems can be fixed now and in the longer term.”

The RACP encourages COAG to confront the problems of oral health funding and workforce as a combined State/Commonwealth issue.

Sunday Age editorial supports Labor dental plan

2007-06-03T19:56:00.000+10:00

The Sunday Age today published an editorial supporting the ALP commitment to establish a national dental program which would directly address the treatment needs of an estimated 650,000 people on dental waiting lists around Australia.

The editorial accompanied a news story 'Smile - it's free dental care', in which Shadow Health Minister Nicola Roxon reportedly said that helping the states clear the 650,000 people currently on state government waiting lists had to be part of the solution to the dental crisis.

"Those waiting lists need to be cleared and we will provide assistance to the states to do that," she said. "We can't just set up a Commonwealth system to complement the state system without acknowledging that this is a crisis.

"They are all the same people to us — ordinary Australians who need dental care and we see it as our obligation to help them."

Costings for this Labor initiative are yet to be published.

Federal Budget - reactions to dental measures

2007-05-09T09:11:00.000+10:00

The Federal Budget’s $378 million dental health scheme received mixed reaction.

The Australian Dental Association welcomed the measures, especially the recognition by the Federal Government to assume a greater role in dental care delivery to Australians. But the Association said that too many Australians with dental problems have been ignored and are the losers as the measures don't go far enough.

ADA President Dr John Matthews said: “Australia has a maldistribution of dentists in rural and remote sections of the country and the Charles Sturt University proposal (to build a dental school), if successful, will go some considerable way to redress this maldistribution.” However nothing has been done to remedy the shortfall in the numbers of dentists in the public sector.

Carol Nader, of The Age wrote: “In Victoria, more than 140,000 people are on waiting lists for dental treatment. A bipartisan committee of federal MPs last year recommended that Canberra help the states pay for public dental services. While the federal and state governments play the blame game, in parts of Victoria patients wait years for dental treatment. In Moe, the wait is more than five years.

“The Federal Government has committed $378 million to help people see a private dentist — but only if they have a chronic health condition that is affected by their dental problems. The Government will allow patients to get up to $2125 a year in Medicare rebates for dental treatment, up from the current $77.95 for three dental sessions. The extra money is essentially an admission by the Government that the current scheme has failed. But while it says the new scheme will help treat 200,000 people over four years, it still won't help hundreds of thousands of people on dental waiting lists who do not have chronic health conditions.”

The President of the Australian Council of Social Services, Lin Hatfield Dodds, said: “ … while the Government has put some money into dental care and that’s good move, but none of that money is going to make a difference to the 650,000 Australians who are still on dental waiting lists tonight for an average of over two years”.

The Opposition’s health spokeswoman, Nicola Roxon, promised that a Labor Government would reintroduce a Commonwealth dental program. She said that the package was an admission that the dental care of Australian’s was the government’s responsibility but it was insufficient.

Federal Budget 2007 - dental highlights

2007-05-08T21:52:00.000+10:00

Key initiatives affecting dental services and the future availability of sufficient dental care providers, especially in rural areas, are outlined in extracts from the Federal Budget Papers below.

"Dental school — Charles Sturt University
The Government will provide $65.1 million over four years for the establishment of a new regional dental school at the Charles Sturt University, including the construction of residential accommodation for students.
The funding will provide for 60 additional dentistry places: 30 in a five-year dentistry course and 30 in a three‑year paradental course. Rural training encourages graduates to pursue careers in rural areas. "

"Dental training — expanding rural placements
The Government will provide $12.5 million over four years to improve rural access to dental services by expanding dental training in regional settings. This measure will provide clinical placements in rural training settings for up to 30 metropolitan dentistry students annually.
In addition, three scholarships per year will be established under the Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme to encourage Indigenous Australians to train in dentistry or in the allied health professions such as oral hygiene."

"Dental treatment — enhanced Medicare items for patients with chronic and complex conditions
The Government will provide $377.6 million over four years to improve access to dental items available on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1 November 2007 for patients with chronic and complex conditions.
The expanded MBS items will provide for an initial dental assessment and subsequent dental treatments. Each patient will receive a $125 benefit for an initial dental assessment (up from $77.95) and benefits for subsequent dental treatments up to the value of $2,000 per year. The new items will be available to patients being treated under a general practitioner management plan and team care arrangements, or under a multidisciplinary care plan in an aged care facility. The items will be available where the person’s oral health is impacting on, or is likely to impact on, their chronic medical condition.
This measure includes $53,000 in capital funding in 2007-08 for Medicare Australia system enhancements."

VOHA Comments

While these measures are welcome, they will regrettably have negligible impact on public dental waiting lists which see hundreds of thousands of Australians waiting up to five years for access to basic dental care.

Dental waiting times in many Victorian areas are increasing again after significant improvements reported in the lead up to the recent State election.

If the Coalition was hoping these budget measures would take the dental crisis off the front page, they are likely to be disappointed.

Federal budget preview - dental care for chronically ill

2007-05-07T08:53:00.000+10:00

In a front page story in The Age today (Fifth-term fight ensures federal budget has bite) Michelle Grattan predicts that tomorrow's Federal Budget "will pour about $375 million over four years into fixing the teeth of those with chronic illnesses. This will help 200,000 people and take some pressure off state waiting lists for acute dental care".

This outcome is a tribute to the National Oral Health Alliance campaign in which ACOSS and the ADA led a very broad coalition of organisations from the welfare, community and dental professional sectors to obtain increased resources to address waiting lists of up to five years for access to public dental care.

Ms Grattan's story also notes that:

"The dental money is a response to strong Coalition backbench pressure to do something on dental health and Labor's promise of a dental scheme.
At present, people whose chronic illness includes dental problems can only get three visits a year covered by Medicare. This is often inadequate to give them proper care.
However, the states will still be left with a big dental problem because the change will not cover people who have trouble with their teeth but not a chronic illness."

More detailed analysis and response awaits the formal presentation of the budget tomorrow.

Vic Budget's dental increase quietly welcomed

2007-05-03T20:16:00.000+10:00

The State Government's Budget announced on 1 May provides $138 million of dental services - an increase of $8 million.

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) welcomed:

$1.5 million to fund fluoridation of water in rural Victoria;
$1.5 million to establish a dental school at Bendigo; and,
additional funds for dentures for older Victorians living in supported residential facilities.

However VOHA members felt that a lot more could be done to help Victorians, especially 100,000-plus people on the public dental waiting lists.

The alliance now awaits the Federal Budget to see if the Commonwealth Government can further help improve the oral health of disadvantaged Victorians.

Acute dental problems put people in hospital - report

2007-04-20T13:55:00.000+10:00

Dental conditions are one of the major contributors to hospitalisation for acute conditions, according to a report released today.

The report says that dental conditions account for 7.9% of the avoidable admissions, involving almost 44,000 people.

Dental conditions were the third highest cause of avoidable hospital admissions for children aged 0-10 years, with only asthma and ear, nose and throat infections experiencing higher rates.

Released by the Australian Institute of Health Welfare, the report - Atlas of avoidable hospitalisations in Australia: ambulatory care sensitive conditions - looks at the level and extent of regional variation in a sub-set of avoidable hospitalisations: ambulatory care-sensitive (ACS) conditions. ACS are certain conditions for which hospitalisation is considered avoidable through preventive care and early disease management.

In 2001-02 admissions for ACS conditions accounted for 8.7% of all hospital admissions. This equates to more than 552,000 admissions, all of which are potentially avoidable. One of the key findings is that people in the most disadvantaged areas had 61% more hospitalisations for an ACS condition than those in the least disadvantaged areas.

ACOSS wants $160 million for dental checks

2007-04-18T16:47:00.000+10:00

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) today called on the Federal Government to spend $160 million on dental checks for low-income adults every two years. In its budget submission, ACOSS wants almost $3 billion for child care, indigenous health and other welfare initiatives.

Choice says evidence supports fluoridation

2007-03-22T12:35:00.000+11:00

Consumer magazine Choice is supporting fluoridated drinking water. After examining the present evidence relating to fluoride, the March edition concludes that "at present the evidence is very strong that it's a safe and effective public health measure".

The three-page report says:
* There's solid scientific evidence that fluoride added to drinking water helps to protect teeth from decay
* The claims of those who oppose fluoridation are often based on outdated information, questionable research, and selectively picking studies that support their case
* There's no convincing evidence for harmful effects from fluoride at the levels used in our water supply.

Choice also looked at fluoride toothpaste. The magazine says that clinical trials have shown that while fluoride toothpaste definitely helps prevent tooth decay, it isn't as effective a public health measure as fluoridated drinking water.

National Oral Health Alliance lobbies Parliament

2007-03-22T09:49:00.000+11:00

The largest and most representative oral health deputation ever seen in Australia descended on Canberra last Tuesday urging the Commonwealth Government to play a coordinating role and ensure that more resources are dedicated to public dental services and preventive programs.

The National Oral Health Alliance deputation of 85 people included representatives from 35 welfare, community and professional organisations.

Briefing sessions and presentations were delivered to the deputation by Health Minister Tony Abbott, Shadow Health Minister Nicola Roxon, and Senators Lyn Allison and Bob Brown from the Democrats and the Greens respectively. Members of the deputation then formed into teams to speak with many MPs from across the political spectrum.

The Alliance recommended these key 'solutions' to the oral health crisis affecting half of Australia's population:
1. The Commonwealth Government should ensure that all people on concession cards have a free basic course of dental care every two years. This preventive health measure would help improve the poor oral health of people on low incomes and lessen the number of tooth extractions and more expensive treatments needed.
2. The Commonwealth Government should provide funding for this initiative through the States and Territories, on the condition that the States and Territories:

bring their own expenditure up to the new level of Commonwealth funding
extend water fluoridation to all communities
ensure that all children and eligible adults receive one course of general oral health care every two years, and ensure that no-one waits longer than 24 hours to receive emergency dental care for swelling, infection, bleeding or serious and persistent pain

3. The Commonwealth should conduct a full national review of the current oral health workforce.

Very favourable responses were provided by MPs representing Labor, the Democrats and the Greens. Mr Abbott was supportive of the third recommendation but declined to involve the Commonwealth Government in a new partnership with the States to address the urgent need for improved oral health measures.

VOHA will publish details of any further developments arising.

National Survey of Adult Oral Health highlights need for national action

2007-03-19T12:42:00.000+11:00

An extensive survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found that often disadvantaged people were three times more likely to have dental problems.

The report comments that the “pervasive nature of disadvantage is such that it calls for a range of interventions including efforts to tackle the root causes of disadvantage itself”.

The release of the survey – on Saturday at the Australian Dental Association’s (ADA) conference in Sydney – was timely, as representatives of a National Oral Health Alliance, which includes the Australian Council of Social Services and the ADA, will meet with the Federal Health Minister, Mr Abbott and other Parliamentarians, in Canberra tomorrow to discuss ways for disadvantaged people to see a dentist at least every two years.

The survey found that:

One-in-four Australians have untreated tooth decay
Dental care has remained “chronically under-funded” for the past decade
About 50% of adults have only “irregular” visits to the dentist
About The Federal Government spends almost as much on health insurance subsidies for private dental care ($438 million a year) as States spend in total on public dental services (about $500 million)
Using 2002 figures on public dental care spending, there would only have been enough money to provide every eligible person with one session of basic preventative care every five years
The introduction of fluoridated water and toothpaste had not “immunised” people born between 1967 and 1983 against decay.
20% said that cost had prevented them from having recommended dental treatment

The 2004-06 National Survey of Adult Oral Health was compiled after interviewing 14123 people aged 15 – 97 with 5505 people being dentally examined. The previous survey was conducted in 1987-88.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald article 'Dental care is failing the needy', summarises the report.

Koori children face more decay

2007-03-02T15:17:00.000+11:00

A five year study reported in the March 2007 edition of the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health shows that almost four out of every five Aboriginal children have decayed teeth or other oral health issues.

It showed that 78% of indigenous children under the age of 10 years have dental disease compared with only about 50% of other children.

Socio-economic disadvantage is considered the key factor in poor indigenous oral health.

VOHA has advocated the use of outreach services for Aboriginal communities, which are often located in regional areas. Our 2007 budget submission to the Victorian Government includes a specific proposal on this area of special need.

Waiting times - some better, some worse

2007-03-02T14:29:00.000+11:00

The VOHA website has now updated all of the Victorian public dental waiting times in the light of new information published by the Department of Human Services in the last week.

The bad news for 11 out of the Unlucky 13 rural areas is that their waiting times have deteriorated over a period of nine months (September 2006 versus December 2005).

Patients on the lists at Moe and Churchill clinics have 66 months to wait for treatment, those at Sale will wait 63 months and those in Warrnambool 58 months.

Two rural clinics in the Unlucky 13 have improved. Ballarat patients now only have to wait 47 months (down 6 months) while Portland patients have halved their wait time from 66 months to 33 months.

The bad news for metropolitan areas is that waiting times for dentures deteriorated at seven of the Unliucky 13 Metropolitan clinics. Patients waiting at eight of those 13 clinics will not receive their new dentures for three years or more.

The Minister for Health, Bronwyn Pike, issued a media release about the new waiting times yesterday.

WHO highlights importance of oral health

2007-02-25T17:14:00.000+11:00

For the first time since 1981, oral health was on the agenda at the recent World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board Meeting in Geneva.

The WHO’s Global Oral Health Programme prepared an extensive report on “Oral health: action plan for promotion and integrated disease prevention”.

The Executive Board has also made a number of major recommendations to the next World Health Assembly, due to be held in May 2007.

New waiting list data

2007-02-23T08:10:00.000+11:00

The Department of Human Services has updated waiting time information for public dental clinics on the Your Hospitals website.

VOHA will be updating its information about these waiting times, as at September 2006, and new rural and metropolitan summary tables will be available on the VOHA website soon

HSU highlights dental funding issue

2007-02-14T08:20:00.000+11:00

The Health Services Union, yesterday launched a campaign urging the major parties to provide Medicare rebates for dentistry for those aged over 65, under 18, and on a pension.

According to The Age, "the union's national secretary, Craig Thomson, said that the union believed in universal dental cover but it had limited its proposal to the elderly and young in recognition of the huge cost involved".

The Age reported that union polling shows "50 per cent of people had postponed a visit to the dentist because they could not afford it, and 15 per cent had delayed taking their children to the dentist".

The poll also indicated that 73 per cent of respondents would be more likely to support a political party if it offered rebates for basic dentistry. The same percentage said they disagreed with Canberra's argument that dental services were a state responsibility.

Government MPs call for dental funding

2007-02-14T08:05:00.000+11:00

According to a story in The Age today, Government backbenchers are supporting the reintroduction of federal funding for public dental services.

"Worried that the Coalition will be punished at the polls over a blow-out in dental waiting lists, several backbenchers have urged the Prime Minister to reintroduce Commonwealth funding. The Government dumped the Commonwealth dental scheme 10 years ago."

The Age story notes that "There are an estimated 650,000 people on public dental waiting lists — and increasing media attention on those affected, with stories such as elderly people pulling out their teeth with pliers."

Liberal backbencher Dr Andrew Laming is reported to have told a Coalition meeting yesterday that "while dental services were technically a state responsibility, access was now so bad that the Federal Government would not escape the electorate's anger about the situation".

Liberal Party sources have advised that it could cost more than $1 billion to clear public dental waiting lists across Australia.

The Age suggests that Mr Laming's proposal was broadly supported by several colleagues, including Liberal senator Guy Barnett, Nationals MP Paul Neville and Liberal MP Danna Vale.

States and Territories call for Commonwealth dental action

2007-02-13T17:08:00.000+11:00

The Council for the Australian Federation held its second meeting in Sydney on 9 February. The Council was established in October 2006 and comprises the Premiers and Chief Ministers of the States and Territories. The Council desccribes itself as "both a strategic body that will help shape and set the national policy agenda, and a forum for joint State and Territory action".

The Communique issued by the Council on 9 February included the following statement on dental health, which calls on the Commonwealth to play a more active role in contributing to funding of public dental services:

"The public dental system plays a critical role in providing general dental and denture care, as well as emergency care, for many children and adults with a health care or pensioner card. State Governments have progressively increased investment in public dental services, which has led to some significant improvements in service provision but a combined Commonwealth-State effort is required.

In 1996 the Commonwealth abolished the Commonwealth Dental Health Program. The scheme supported the State run public dental services, with funding of $100 million in 1995/96. A review by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found the program enabled 200,000 extra people to access dental care per annum, shortened waiting times and reduced the need for teeth extraction.

The Commonwealth’s inclusion of limited dental care in Medicare rebates for treatment of chronic conditions has failed to make a significant impact on the need for dental care. Equally, the Commonwealth’s private health insurance rebate does not assist access to dental care for the many Australians who do not have and cannot afford private health insurance. While private dentists do have an important role to play in the provision of care to low income Australians, even with relatively generous incentives, they will not be able to service all the need in the community.

Commonwealth support of dental training is also required. A substantial increase in training places and an improved distribution of these places would make a significant difference to access to care and the population’s oral health The recent House of Representatives report, ‘The Blame Game’, asserted that access to public dental services is a joint responsibility of the Commonwealth and State Governments. This report recommends that the Commonwealth supplement State funding for public dental services.

The Council agrees to call on the Commonwealth to:

reinstate funding for public dental services to increase access to dental care, to be provided in partnership with State and Territory delivery systems;
extend and simplify the Medicare Enhanced Primary Care system to:
- more effectively provide a broader range of dental care to people with chronic and debilitating conditions;
- attract more dentists from private practice to participate, and make the scheme easier for patients, by relaxing current limitations; and
- fund treatment for people through public dental hospital care."

Health Ministers call for national dental scheme

2007-02-09T14:56:00.000+11:00

Health Ministers from all States and Territories are meeting today to develop a united approach to issues such as fairer hospital funding and public dental services.

In her role as host of this summit, Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike has issued a media release which reveals that "a key priority area is the need for a national dental scheme". (A link will be provided when it becomes available).

She also notes that "Each year 200,000 more people would get dental care if the Federal Government resumed their funding levels from ten years ago".

Rural children suffer poorer oral health

2007-01-31T16:07:00.000+11:00

The State of Victoria's Children Report (October 2006) identified that children living in rural areas were more likely to have poor oral health, with more toothache and fillings and more tooth extraction and dental treatment in hospital, than their metropolitan peers.

While the report generally tells a good news story about how Victoria’s children are faring against a broad range of measures of health and wellbeing, safety, development and learning, it also highlights some newly emerging health concerns affecting children and young people, such as obesity, eating disorders and mental ill health.

In her introduction to the report, The Hon Sherryl Garbutt, then Minister for Children and Minister for Community Services noted that "It shows that not all children in Victoria are faring as well as broad statewide data suggest. The evidence shows there are inequalities in outcome for different groups of children, and clearly points to a need for policies to tackle these."

Children from rural areas had almost twice as many teeth extracted and required hospital admission and treatment under general anaesthetic twice as often as those from metropolitan areas.

The report notes that "oral health guidelines for Victorians 2003 include the following recommendations for oral health:
• Drink plenty of tap water.
• Limit consumption and frequency of sugary drinks (milk or flavoured milks are preferable to sugary drinks).
• Teeth should be cleaned at least twice a day.
• Children should use low fluoride toothpaste from two to seven years of age.
• An adult should assist a child aged under seven years of age to brush his or her teeth."

During the forthcoming Federal election VOHA will be seeking commitments from candidates to introduce polices that will help to address the serious disadvantage experienced by rural children.

Dental treatment one of Life's Essentials

2007-01-31T14:47:00.000+11:00

Dental treatment features high on the list of life's essentials identified in a Bulletin published by the Towards New Indicators of Disadvantage project.

This project is a collaboration between researchers at the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) and analysts from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Mission Australia, the Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) and Anglicare, Diocese of Sydney.

The Bulletin notes that the aim of the research is "to develop new indicators that can be used alongside existing instruments (e.g. poverty lines) to better identify the extent and nature of disadvantage in Australia. The findings will help to fill the gaps that currently exist in conceptual thinking and empirical research on poverty and related issues of deprivation and social exclusion. They will also provide new information on the circumstances of those who use welfare services, and a better evidence base to inform policy development".

In a postal survey answered by over 2700 people, 'dental treatment when needed' ranked 7th out of 61 ‘essentials of life’, which covered a broad range of items, activities, opportunities and other characteristics that previous research (in Australia and other countries) has shown to be associated with deprivation and social exclusion and thus contribute to disadvantage.

With a Federal election scheduled for later this year, VOHA will be drawing the attention of the major parties to this research as yet further evidence of the importance of building dental funding measures into their policy platforms.

ALP pledges new national dental program

2006-12-14T08:51:00.000+11:00

Opposition leader Kevin Rudd, yesterday announced that a federal Labor Government would establish a new national dental healthcare program which will not only include concession card holders, but will also extend to low-income families.

This new scheme, details of which have not yet been finalised, will apparently cost more than the $300 million over four years which had previously been promised by former Opposition Leader, Mark Latham.

The Daily Telegraph (14/12) reports advice from Labor figures that "Families would need to undergo a means test and a distinction would be made between urgent or health-related dental care and cosmetic work".

More infomation about this policy will be published as it becomes available.

The Blame Game: Report on the inquiry into health funding

2006-12-05T08:53:00.000+11:00

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing yesterday tabled The Blame Game: Report on the inquiry into health funding, in which the following key recommendation appeared:

"The Australian Government should supplement state and territory funding for public dental services so that reasonable access standards for appropriate services are maintained, particularly for disadvantaged groups. This should be linked to the achievement of specific service outcomes."

This recommendation is significant as it is presented by a bi-partisan committee of the Lower House, and will set the scene for negotiations on the next round of funding agreements.

According to The Age today, the Government has consistently refused to help the states pay for public dental services, arguing "it is a state responsibility despite reports of desperate people extracting their own teeth because of long waiting lists. Yesterday, Prime Minister John Howard again said dental care was a state responsibility".

Representatives of the National Oral Health Alliance, including the ADA Inc. and ACOSS, are in Canberra today seeing a number of MPs to urge them to address the continuing crisis in access to basic dental care for low income Australians.

Thanks from VOHA

2006-11-27T09:07:00.000+11:00

To all those people who joined the Victorian Oral Health Alliance in seeking improved dental health measures from the parties contesting the Victorian State Eelction - THANK YOU.

Many who were directly affected by poor access to care took advantage of VOHA's email facilities to send messages to candidates, as did numerous others who simply shared our concerns about the impact of poor dental care on the community.

To those parties that responded to the need and included specific dental measures in their health policy platforms, we thank you also. It was gratifying to see that these matters were recognised as serious public policy issues.

VOHA has a continuing role, and we plan to update our website soon to focus on measures we feel should be addressed in the Victorian Budget for 2007/08.

Election result - impact on dental services

2006-11-27T08:34:00.000+11:00

With the return of the Labor Government, the major impact on dental services will be establishment of expanded clinical training facilities at Bendigo and some regional centres, associated with the creation of a new Bachelor of Dental Science course (BDSc) at LaTrobe University.

This measure is intended to train more dentists who will be willing to work in rural areas, and thus address the serious maldistribution of the dental workforce in Victoria. Its success will depend on allocation of Commonwealth Supported Places to the BDSc course, as the Victorian Government's commitment is limited to building training facilities rather than funding student enrolments.

These proposed additional training places come on top of additional places being offered at Melbourne University for dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists. The combined impact of these additional places is such that there is no longer as much concern that in the medium to long term, Victoria will suffer a dental workforce shortage (although maldistribution could remain an issue).

The ALP did not commit any additional recurrent funds in their election platform to dental waiting list reduction, having announced significant reductions in the length of those lists during the election campaign. VOHA remains concerned that in many areas of the State, both rural and metropolitan, people are waiting unacceptably long times for access to basic dental care.

VOHA will now focus on advocating further improvements to public dental health via the next State Budget, which the new Labor Government will commence preparing almost immediately.

ALP response to VOHA

2006-11-16T17:02:00.000+11:00

The Victorian Labor 2006 Election Campaign office today sent the following message to VOHA in response our oral health policy platform. To date this is the only party to have formally communicated its package of oral health policies directly to the Alliance.

"The Bracks Labor Government has increased public dental health funding by providing a record $103.6 million over the last two State Budgets. This additional funding has been used to treat more patients and improve access for children and the disadvantaged.

We have boosted dental health infrastructure increasing the number of community dental chairs by 66 per cent since coming to office in 1999.

This additional investment in dental health has seen the waiting lists for general dental health care reduced by more than 60 per cent over the past eighteen months. More than 200,000 Victorians received public dental care in 2005/06, an increase of 17,000 on the previous year.

There is a critical shortage of dentists, particularly in rural Victoria because the Federal Government has failed to train enough dentists in our universities.

To increase the number of dentists in rural Victoria, a re-elected Bracks Government will work with La Trobe University to establish a new dental school in Bendigo. The $14.45 million initiative will build a teaching laboratory in Bendigo and establish an additional 30 dental chairs in new dental teaching clinics in Wodonga, Mildura and at the new Melton Day Hospital."

Oral health policy commitments of other parties appear on the VOHA website - where these have been published or otherwise made available.

ALP announces expansion of Bendigo dental school

2006-11-06T14:55:00.000+11:00

A media release issued by Premier Steve Bracks today, announced the expansion of the existing dental school at LaTrobe University's Bendigo campus, with the establishment of a new Bachelor of Dental Science course. The full text of the release follows:

"A re-elected Bracks Government will work with La Trobe University to establish a new dental school in Bendigo.

Under the plan, the Victorian Government would invest $14.5 million to establish the new dental school in Bendigo, and also fund an additional 30 dental chairs in new dental teaching clinics in Wodonga, Mildura and at the new Melton Day Hospital.

The initiative includes the construction of a $1.5 million pre-clinical teaching laboratory at La Trobe University in Bendigo.

Bachelor of Dentistry students will commencing in Bendigo in 2008 and will build on the current La Trobe University dental therapist and hygienist course.

The 30 new dental chairs in regional Victoria, plus 5 of the 10 additional chairs currently being built at the Bendigo Community Health Service will result in a 35 chair dental teaching facility that will, when fully operational, train up to 50 graduates a year.

The new dental chair facilities will be used by La Trobe University as clinical teaching facilities.

Once established, supervised students will provide dental services to around 13,000 patients in rural areas currently experiencing a shortage of dentists.

People living in Wodonga will have access to 10 new dental chairs, there will be 8 new dental chairs for people in Mildura and a new 12 chair unit will treat people in Melton.

There is a critical shortage of dentists, particularly in rural Victoria and this investment will help meet the challenge of providing all Victorians with public oral health.

The initiative also includes a Public Dentistry Traineeship Scheme which will provide financial assistance for students during their final two years of the five year program. In return, students will be required to work in rural areas for an equivalent period of time.

This is an innovative program to train and retain dentists in regional and rural locations.

There are less than 30 dentists per 100,000 people in regional Victoria, compared to more than 50 in Melbourne and providing first class dental health in country Victoria is a serious challenge.

Doubling the number of Dental Schools in Victoria, basing one in Bendigo and establishing the Public Dentistry Traineeship Scheme will provide a long term solution."

Labor overlooks oral health

2006-11-03T10:57:00.000+11:00

The announcement yesterday by Premier Steve Bracks of $1.4 billion for rebuilt hospitals and $44 million to tackle outpatient waiting times, makes no mention of measures to address dental service problems still affecting many public dental patients - especially in rural areas.

While dental waiting lists have been reduced somewhat over the last couple of years, they remain unacceptably long in many parts of the State, with patients waiting up to five years in some rural centres.

Waiting times at all public dental agencies are shown at the VOHA website .

The unlucky 13 rural clinics with the longest waiting times as at June 2006 are:
Moe - 65 months
Churchill - 65 months
Sale - 60 months
Warrnambool - 55 months
Portland - 52 months
Ballarat - 47 months
Orbost - 46 months
Wangaratta - 44 months
Echuca - 41 months
Horsham - 40 months
Bendigo - 37 months
Bairnsdale - 36 months
Colac - 35 months

If the ALP intends to increase funding for dental services so that these continuing waiting list problems are addressed, it hasn't yet put a figure on that commitment.

Rural Health Alliance backs calls for improved access

2006-11-02T11:22:00.000+11:00

The National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) has backed calls by the Australian Dental Association and the Australian Council of Social Service for a joint Commonwealth - State scheme to address urgent dental access problems in rural areas.

In a media release issued on 25 October, the NRHA states:

"With national leadership and affordable new expenditure, Australia could fix the terrible state of oral and dental health among its adults. The Alliance is a strong supporter of the campaign promoted by ACOSS and the Australian Dental Association because people in rural and remote areas are among the worst-served and worst-affected with regard to oral and dental health. The NRHA’s number one priority presented to Minister Abbott last week was to improve access to dentists for rural people."

Chair of the Alliance, John Wakeman also noted that:

"The Alliance has a particular interest in the oral and dental labour force – a key determinant
of the national capacity to deliver more dental services that underlies the ACOSS proposal. Wherever there are shortages of health professionals they are most severe in rural and remote areas. There are far too few dentists and oral hygienists in rural areas and we hear horror stories, like young people having to have all their teeth out because of dental pain and the complete absence of preventive care.”

Liberals announce $33m dental plan

2006-10-30T17:28:00.000+11:00

Liberal Leader Ted Baillieu launched the Liberal's dental policy at Bentleigh Community Health Centre today.

According to their Media Release, a Liberal Government will:

"Invest $30 million over four years to cut dental waiting lists by employing public sector dentists, dental hygienists and therapists, particularly in country areas where there is limited access to either public or private dentists.
Provide 10 additional dentistry scholarships at university. Students who accept the scholarships will be bonded to rural practice for five of their first eight years in the profession".

ACOSS releases report on the state of dental care

2006-10-23T08:44:00.000+10:00

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.

Nationals Plan to improve country health services

2006-10-11T13:51:00.000+10:00

The Leader of The Nationals, Peter Ryan launched their health policy in Ballarat today.

In the media release that accompanied the launch, Mr Ryan said

"... the shortage of health professionals in country Victoria was a critical issue that needed to be addressed with short term and long term programs."

A key feature of The Nationals Health Plan related to dental issues was the following commitment:

"Subsidising private dental services to provide services for eligible residents where public dental services are not available or where patients have an unreasonable wait for treatment."

ALP Health Platform released

2006-10-03T15:37:00.000+10:00

The Victorian ALP Platform for the forthcoming State Election has now been published. Chapter 3 deals with their Health Policies.

It includes a brief mention of dental care, expressed in the following terms:

"3.12 Until the Commonwealth Government restores federal funding support for dental services, Labor will focus on reducing general dental care waiting times for socially disadvantaged Victorians.

Public dental services are vital to the well-being of Victorians. Following the axing of Commonwealth funding in 1996, dental services have been severely stretched.

Labor will give particular priority to:
• Improving access to dentures for concession card holders;
• Extending funding for pre-school and school dental programs;
• Promoting dental care for pregnant women;
• Promoting fluoridation of water supplies as a public health resource;
• Providing fluoride tablets through Maternal and Child Health to those living in nonfluoridated areas and areas of non-reticulated water;
• Improving access to dental technician training in TAFEs; and
• Expanding the public dental workforce, particularly in rural and regional areas."

Those interested in reading the entire Victorian ALP Platform 2006 (194 pages), should be aware that this is a very large file (over 7 MB).

Sunday Age urges Canberra to assist States with the dental crisis

2006-10-01T19:44:00.000+10:00

The Sunday Age published an editorial today urging the Commonwealth Government to get together with State Governments to address the dental crisis "as a matter of urgency".

The editorial notes that "Australia's extraction rate is one of the highest in the world and overall dental health is the second lowest among developed nations. This is what Mr Abbott has washed his hands of. When it comes to dental health, Australians are mostly on their own. This is simply not good enough."

The editorial is accompanied by a news article higlighting calls by the Australian Dental Association "for the Federal Government to take overriding responsibility for promoting dental health as figures reveal that Australia has the highest tooth extraction rate in the developed world".

New Government waiting list figures

2006-10-01T19:21:00.000+10:00

According to a media release issued by Health Minister Bronwyn Pike on 28 September, average dental waiting times across Victoria as at June 2006 were 23.51 months, a reduction from the average of 30.98 months in December 2004.

Oddly, this latest media release suggests that there are now only 110,579 people on the waiting list for general dental care, when on 8 September, only 3 weeks earlier, the Minister issued a release stating that “Since the end of 2004, we have reduced the general dental waiting (list) by 84,464 people - from 262,440 to 177,976”.

Whichever figure is correct, the Government and the public dental agencies should be congratulated on the significant improvement.

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) website (www.voha.org) now shows all the latest figures as at the end of June 2006, for both general dental care and dentures. It also shows the change in waiting times for each clinic since December 2005.

Many rural and metropolitan clinics continue to have waiting times of longer than three years, so much remains to be done to ensure that all Victorians enjoy the basic oral care they deserve. To send a message urging continued efforts to improve the situation to the Minister for Health or local MPs associated with clinics with long waiting times, visit the VOHA website and use the email facilities provided.

Churchill clinic reopened

2006-09-28T21:35:00.000+10:00

Earlier this month the Minister for Health announced that a two-chair clinic had been reopened at Churchill in the LaTrobe Valley. This clinic had been closed in 2004 due to workforce shortages.

Ms Pike said the upgrade of Churchill’s new clinic at the Latrobe Community Health Service meant 1600 people would no longer be forced to travel to Moe for their dental care.

More significantly, this release noted how much the waiting lists had been reduced overall in the last two years. “Since the end of 2004, we have reduced the general dental waiting list by 84,464 people - from 262,440 to 177,976,” Ms Pike said.

Regrettably, many clinics, especially in rural Victoria, continue to experience waiting times of between three and five years, and so much more remains to be done.

More media coverage of dental waiting lists

2006-09-28T21:13:00.000+10:00

Extensive media coverage of dental waiting list issues resulted from two media releases issued by the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch Inc. (ADAVB) this week. The releases highlighted the latest public dental waiting times as at March 2006 and published on 21 September by the Department of Human Services.

To review the updated waiting times and to send a message to the Minister for Health and other MPs about the need to significantly improve public dental services, visit www.voha.org

New clinics opened in Shepparton and Mooroopna

2006-09-27T19:37:00.000+10:00

Two new dental clinics were opened in the Goulburn Valley yesterday by Minister for Aged Care and Aboriginal Affairs, Gavin Jennings MLC, supported by Federal Member for Murray and Minister for Workplace Participation, Dr Sharman Stone, representing Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott.

A stunning and light-filled twelve chair teaching clinic was opened at Goulburn Valley Health (GVH), and a two-chair clinic opened at Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative at Mooroopna.

Both clinics are run in partnership with the University of Melbourne School of Dental Science, thus giving final year BDSc and BOH students opportunity to learn and work in rural settings, including the special indigenous service at Rumbalara Health Service.

In the University of Melbourne media release about the event, Professor Mike Morgan, Deputy Head of the School of Dental Science states "Working hand in hand with the School of Rural Health and Goulburn Valley Health this program will significantly improve local dental services and has the goal and potential to increase the workforce in rural and remote areas".

Both of these issues are priority areas in the Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) Ideal Dental Health Policy platform, and the opening of the new clinics is a most commendable development. The Victorian and Federal Governments are to be congratulated for their commitment of the required funds to permit the establishment of these excellent facilities. These clinics demonstrate the way ahead for many other rural areas in Victoria, experiencing long waiting lists and workforce shortages.

In his opening speech, Minister Jennings noted that the GVH clinic was jointly funded by the Victorian Government ($10 million), the Commonwealth Government ($4 million) and the Pratt Foundation ($0.5 million). In his media release about the event, he also noted that the State Government "had provided $3 million to help establish the Rural Dental Health Program in conjuction with the University of Melbourne".

The new teaching facility at GVH forms part of an Integrated Care Centre, in which the dental unit is co-located with the Care Coordination Team, the Disease Management Team, Complex Care Services, Integrated Diabetes Services, Podiatry, Drug and Alcohol Services, Falls and Mobility Clinic, Hospital in the Home, Wound Management and Continence Services. These programs have been co-located so that clients can find services more easily, and staff can work more closely together to meet patients' total needs more effectively. This model is now apparently the template for all new clinics throughout the State.

The Rumbalara clinic deserves special mention because it is one of a very few indigenous dental services located within a rural community. Most other aboriginal communities in Victoria have to use bus services to take patients to Melbourne for treatment. The community controlled health service at Rumbalara is one of which they can be very proud, and the enthusiasm and commitment of their dental team is exemplary.

Dental waiting times updated (as at March 2006)

2006-09-27T17:30:00.000+10:00

The Department of Human Services has updated dental waiting times information on its website, so that waiting times as at March 2006 are now visible.

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) has taken this data, and presented it in a more accessible form at the VOHA website. The data is also linked to email facilities allowing those concerned about unreasonably long waiting times to send a message to their MP or the Minister for Health urging them to take action to improve the situation.

VOHA has also created lists of the worst 13 clinics in each of rural Victoria and Melbourne, described as the "Unlucky 13" lists. The ADAVB, which is a member of VOHA, issued media releases about these rural and metropolitan clinics, and extensive coverage of the story has followed, particularly in regional media.

There is both good and bad news for public dental patients in the new data, with shorter waits in some areas, and longer waits in others.

Amongst the Unlucky 13 rural clinics originally highlighted on the VOHA website, three have improved, eight have deteriorated and two remain unchanged. The following list highlights the changes for these targeted clinics as at March 2006, with rises or falls since December 2005.

Clinic Location...............Wait (months)
Portland .......................68 .. up 2
Moe ...............................65
Sale ...............................65 .. up 3
Churchill .....................65
Warrnambool ..............56 .. up 1
Horsham ......................50 .. up 1
Ballarat .........................47 .. down 6
Bairnsdale ....................47 .. down 3
Wangaratta ...................46 .. up 3
Orbost ..........................44 .. up 3
Corio ............................42 .. up 2
Echuca .........................40 .. up 1
Maryborough ..............38 .. down 04

Hamilton drops out of the Unlucky 13 since December 2005, as it was 37 months and is now 36 months. Daylesford is threatening to join the list with the waiting time there increasing from 35 to 37 months, as is Colac, where the waiting time has increased from 32 to 35 months.

If you are concerned about these delays in access to dental care, visit the VOHA website to send a message to your local MP or the Minister for Health.

Dental crisis hits the TV News

2006-09-23T18:54:00.000+10:00

The lead story on the Channel 7 News at 6.00 pm tonight was about the dental crisis around Australia.

The story noted that "The federal government remains unmoved that dental care is the responsibility of the states despite a damning poll which shows 650,000 Australians are on waiting lists."

It also reported that "opposition spokeswoman Julia Gillard said Labor would reintroduce a national dental health program if elected to government".

The next federal election cannot be held before 4 August 2007, but the Victorian election is scheduled for 25 November 2006. Candidates in the Victorian election have the opportunity to make a positive move now to significantly reduce waiting lists.

Send a message to your MP or the Victorian Minster for Health calling on them to do more for patients waiting unreasonably long for dental care at www.voha.org

SA Budget targets 10 month waiting times

2006-09-22T17:16:00.000+10:00

The South Australian Budget for 2006/07 was handed down today, and highlighted "a $12.9m dental package to provide restorative dental care to 28,000 people over the next four years, with waiting times to be cut to 10 months".

A media release issued by SA Treasurer and Deputy Premier Kevin Foley MP (pictured) refers.

No such waiting time target has yet been set by any of the candidates in the forthcoming Victorian election. Victorian waiting times continue to be well over a year on average and in the worst cases are well over 5 years.

To express your concern about Victorian public dental issues to your MP or the Minister for Health , please visit www.voha.org

Colac Herald highlights VOHA website

2006-09-21T14:38:00.000+10:00

The Colac Herald ran a story about the VOHA website (www.voha.org) on Monday 18 September, headlined "Dental website adds bite".

The article noted that the website offered "public dental patients a new way to sink their teeth into the State Government about Colac's 32 month wait to see a dentist".

Member for Polwarth, Terry Mulder is also quoted in the article saying "I am particularly concerned for our elderly people who because of poor oral health may now require admittance to hospital for their dental treatjment because of infection risk. This is a disgraceful situation given that many of these people may have only required basic treatment if they had been able to access a dentist when required."

Parliamentary Committee highlights dental workforce shortages

2006-09-15T12:02:00.000+10:00

According to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee of the Victorian Parliament:

"No improvement has been achieved in reducing the staff vacancy rates in community dental clinics located in rural Victoria. Rural areas experienced a vacancy rate of 31 per cent at March 2005, the rate for March 2006 was 32 per cent. The department has employed a number of strategies to address this issue." (p.23)

Elsewhere in the report the difference between metropolitan and rural vacancy rates was highlighted:

"At March 2006, metropolitan community dental services had a vacancy rate of 7 per cent, while rural services had a vacancy rate of 32 per cent." (p.222)

These comments appear in the committee's Report on the 2006-07 Budget Estimates (please note that this link will take you to a download screen, where you can decide whether to download the pdf version of this file, which is almost 4Mb). This report also notes that the funding target for dental services in 2006-07 is $129.8m.

Quoting Health Minister Bronwyn Pike's advice about current Government action to improve the rural dental workforce problem, the report states:
"The Minister also indicated that the Victorian Government is supporting rural workforce development through rural student clinical placements, rural bonded scholarships and support for the establishment in 2006 of a Bachelor of Oral Health Science degree at La Trobe University, Bendigo. The first La Trobe University, Bendigo Bachelor of Oral Health Science students will graduate in 2008, boosting numbers of dental therapy and hygiene professionals provided through University of Melbourne graduations."

If you would like to urge the Minister to take more action to improve this situation, visit the Victorian Oral Health Alliance website.

New online lobbying facility

2006-09-14T20:48:00.000+10:00

Victorians concerned about the long waiting lists for dental treatment can now express their views to politicians using a new website - www.voha.org

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance has given them a dedicated website so they can help the parties contesting the Victorian State election to recognise the need for additional dental health policy measures.

Launched today, the advocacy site highlights oral health problems facing Victorians: public dental waiting times up to five years; elderly, Aboriginal and other people missing out on dental care; and lack of oral disease prevention programs for many Victorians, including unfluoridated water for about 20% of the population, mainly in rural areas.

The site includes an ideal dental health policy platform which has been recommended to the parties contesting the Victorian election in November 2006. It also enables people to locate their nearest public dental clinic, check waiting times, and send email or fax messages to their local MP, their local election candidates or Health Minister Bronwyn Pike asking them to take action to address

the urgent need for more timely oral health care for public dental patients
the need to address dental workforce shortages in Victoria, especially in rural areas
the provision of a high profile oral disease prevention campaign using the popular media.

VOHA meets Senior Liberals

2006-09-05T16:18:00.000+10:00

A VOHA deputation met today with Mr Ted Baillieu, Leader of the Opposition, and Mrs Helen Shardey, Shadow Minister for Health, for very favourable consideration of VOHA proposals to improve public dental services in Victoria.

Mr Baillieu and Mrs Shardey showed considerable interest in VOHA suggestions, and asked many detailed questions with a view to determining which elements they will include in the Liberal's Dental Health Policy Platform, which is still under development. The meeting allowed an extended discussion of the key issues, and further information has also been sought on a number of matters.

The VOHA representatives emphasised that fluoridation of water supplies provides a basis for oral health, and then detailed a range of measures ranked in the following priority order:
1. Reducing dental waiting times
2. Addressing dental workforce shortages
3. Making special provisions for delivery of dental care to residents of nursing homes and other special needs groups e.g. ATSI
4. Increasing the investment in oral disease prevention activities - recognising that the two most prevalent oral diseases, caries and gum disease, are preventable.

NSW Opposition offers a new dental health model

2006-08-31T13:04:00.000+10:00

The NSW Opposition has certainly raised the bar in oral health policy debates around the country by issuing its $208m package of additional measures by which to improve oral care in NSW. The parties participating in the Victorian election are being urged to consider a similarly comprehensive package of measures for Victoria, which is experiencing quite similar problems to NSW.

This 'Good Teeth, Good Health' policy makes extensive reference to the recent Parliamentary Inquiry into Dental Services in NSW.

The NSW Liberal/National package will commit:

$65 million to reduce dental treatment waiting lists and improve public dental health, including funds for comprehensive and preventative treatment;
$40.18 million to increase remuneration for all dental professionals in the public service. This will align remuneration more closely with the private sector and other health-care providers in the public sector and will help attract and retain dental health professionals into the NSW public health system;
$28.62 million for more dental and para-dental clinicians attracted and retained over time as working conditions improve for dental health workers;
$7.95 million for fluoridation and oral-health promotion campaigns;
$5.6 million to establish a Clinical Institute of Dental Health to be responsible for policy development and disbursement of the public dental budget;
$57.3 million to provide dental internships to improve training and immediately increase the public dental health workforce; and,
$3.6 million for Rural And Remote dental education scholarships to support the training and development of dentists dedicated to rural and remote service.

Greens' Health Policy

2006-08-28T16:49:00.000+10:00

The Greens' Health Policy, which outlines their health election platform, makes mention of a few key dental health issues which they would address if elected to Government in Victoria, notably

"3.1.9. Increasing the provision of state funded public dental services based on need
3.1.10. Increasing concession card holders’ access to public dental care by abolishing co-payments
3.1.11. Targeting initiatives to increase access to dental services for those groups in the community who are at a higher risk of poor dental health."

Nationals' Health Policy

2006-08-28T12:51:00.000+10:00

The Victorian Nationals ' Health Policy Directions Paper, which outlines their health election platform, includes a number of measures designed to improve dental health services, especially for those living in regional and rural areas of the State.

They acknowledge that "current dental waiting time for restorative dental care and dentures is unacceptable" and undertake to:

"Improve the planning, integration, coordination and management of public dental services in Victoria
Develop strategies and incentives to attract dentists to practice in country Victoria
Subsidise private denbtal services to provide services for eligible residents where public dental sevices are not available or where patients have been required to wait more than a minimum predetermined maximum time for treatment."

The Nationals also propose to provide 10 scholarships each year "to young country Victorians to enable them to study medicine or dentistry at an Australian University on condition they spend at least 5 years practicing in country Victoria following graduation. When fully implemented the Victorian Government will be assisting 60 young country Victorians to receive training at medical or dental schools".

VOHA meets Minister Pike

2006-08-25T16:41:00.000+10:00

Representatives of the Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) met Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike today to seek her Government's commitment to implement a range of measures designed to improve public dental health. These measures were outlined in VOHA's Ideal Dental Health Policy Platform.

The Victorian Oral Health Alliance (VOHA) is an informal and non-aligned group of consumer, welfare and professional bodies committed to improving public dental health. The VOHA was formed in 2004 in the lead up to the last Federal Election, and campaigned on the basis of agreed positions on areas of need that should be addressed by the Commonwealth. Its current focus is on the Victorian State Election scheduled for 25 November 2006.

Members of the VOHA include:
Health Issues Centre (Victoria)
Public Health Association of Australia Inc.
Victorian Healthcare Association
Dental Hygienists Association of Australia, Victorian Branch
Australian Dental Therapists Association
Rural Workforce Agency, Victoria
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Victorian Council of Social Services
Victorian Aboriginal Cooperative Community Health Organisation
Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch Inc.

The meeting with the Minister emphasised that whilst the Victorian Government had made significant improvements to dental funding since 2003, much more still needs to be done to reduce waiting times to an acceptable level, especially in rural Victoria. Many other measures, including stronger preventive measures were also advocated, in recognition that most dental disease is preventable. Targetted funding for groups with greater need was also advocated, in particular for residents of aged care facilities and Koori communities.

The Minister was supportive of more being done to improve public dental health, but no specific commitments were given.