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OPINION: Action needed to stop the rot
December 20, 2011
Anglicare says expanding access to dental care would lead to significant savings for Tasmania’s health budget. It has added its voice to calls for a national public dental scheme to overcome current inequities which have resulted in poor oral health for millions of Australians.
Without the introduction of such a scheme, Anglicare claims that Tasmania is facing expensive consequences exacerbated by the State Government’s decision to cut the budget of the state’s public oral health service.
An estimated 32,000 Australians are hospitalised each year because of common dental diseases left untreated. A recent report by the Brotherhood of St Laurence estimated these hospital admissions cost the country’s health system $223 million a year. “As a society we are paying the price as people become seriously ill because of infections that were completely preventable,” said Anglicare researcher Ann Hughes. “Dental decay is a common chronic childhood disease with around half of Australia’s children affected – something that can impair their ability to eat, sleep and concentrate at school. In adults there are connections between dental disease and heart disease, stroke, diabetes and for women, the delivery of premature babies. We need to be coming up with collective solutions for this chronic disease, rather than having the State Government cut away at the small and inadequate system we have for providing dental care to people on low incomes”.
One in three Australians delay or miss out on dental treatment because they can’t afford it. In Tasmania the public oral health system is struggling to meet the growing demand for its services. The number of people on the general waiting list rose by 33.2% in the past year. The median waiting time for people to be seen by a public dentist is 19-20 months.
“Adult Tasmanians have high rates of tooth extraction - there are more people without any natural teeth here than in any other state,” said Ms Hughes. “People on low incomes are most likely to miss out on adequate dental care because they don’t have the money to pay for it”.
Under the announced budget cuts, Oral Health Services Tasmania has to find savings of $1.3 million this financial year. In response it has overhauled its co-payment scheme and adult patients will now be required to pay $42 towards the cost of a visit to the dentist. The Government says this will generate extra revenue of $145,000 a year. Another $145,000 will be raised by changes to the system for children with co-payment of $75 charged to those without concession cards who require dental treatment.
The last time Oral Health Services Tasmania changed the co-payment system it led to growing numbers of emergency cases. While general visits attracted a fee, emergency cases did not. “This led to people being unable to afford a dental visit and waiting until their condition became severe so that they could be seen as an emergency patient,” said Ms Hughes. “People were forced into quite desperate situations - putting up with serious pain and ill health – because they didn’t have enough money to pay for a trip to the dentist”.
Ms Hughes said that following the latest review, all adult patients will be required to contribute $42 for the cost of a dental appointment – including emergency cases. “This change will not solve the problem,” she said. “By making it even more difficult for people to access basic, preventative dental interventions, we will continue to see negative consequences and costs for the state. Cuts to the budget of Oral Health Services Tasmania will be a false saving”.
Anglicare has welcomed news that the Federal Government is currently considering the introduction of a universal dental scheme. Anglicare said dental care should not be excluded from Medicare coverage. “Oral health needs to be part of the basic health care accessible to every Australian,” said Ms Hughes. “By opening up access to dental care, we will make huge savings by reducing hospital admissions and preventing lost work and school days”.
