Nothing to smile about: Oral health and access to dental care for low income Tasmanians

In August 2004, Anglicare asked a number of Tasmanians living on low incomes about the problems they experienced with their teeth and the impact this has on their lives. All the participants were eligible for public dental services, and all were on the public dental waiting lists. Intraoral photographs of the participants’ teeth are included in this paper. Anglicare advises that these pictures are quite shocking but they have been included to emphasise the fact that prolonged under-funding of the Tasmanian Public Dental Scheme has appalling consequences in the lives of many low income Tasmanians.