Charles Sturt University ( CSU ) dental spokesperson, Dr Deb Burton, today welcomed the comments by WA Federal Liberal MP Dr Mal Washer that the Commonwealth Government should play a greater role in the provision of public dental services in, particularly in the aged care sector.

 

However, Dr Burton warned, “Expanding eligibility for public dental services is not going to make any difference unless more money is invested in educating dentists and oral health workers. The public dental crisis has reached a point where it cannot be resolved unless governments at all levels in Australia work together.”

 

Dr Washer’s comments follow the release of The Blame Game: Report on the Inquiry into Health Funding (December 2006) by the Commonwealth House of Representatives Standing Committee of Health and Ageing, which recommended that the Commonwealth Government invest “supplementary funding for public dental services so that reasonable access standards for appropriate services are maintained, particularly for disadvantaged groups.”

 

A recent report by the Australian Dental Association (ADA) (NSW) found that NSW will spend less on public dental services this year than any other state and territory in the country. The ADA reported that NSW spends just $19 per person for public dental services in NSW each year compared to $40 in the Northern Territory, $34 in Tasmania and Queensland, and $33 in South Australia.

 

“This situation is made worse by the mal-distribution of public dentists in metropolitan and inland New South Wales,” said Dr Burton. “The actual expenditure on public dental services for people in inland NSW is likely to be much less than $19 per person because there are so few dentists to provide public services.”

 

A report by the Association for the Promotion of Oral Health in May 2005 found that there were only 1.05 public dentists per 100,000 of population in the Far West of NSW, 1.31 in the Southern area, 2.23 in the Greater Murray area, 2.4 in the Mid-West area and 2.53 in the Macquarie area compared to 11.05 per 100,000 in Central Sydney and 6.64 in Western Sydney.

 

“I applaud the recent focus on the dental crisis in Australia,” Dr Burton said, “however, without significant investment in the education of dentists and oral health workers in inland NSW there will be no-one to provide public dental services to rural communities.”

 

Charles Sturt University last week submitted a proposal to the Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon. Mark Vaile, MP, calling on the Commonwealth Government to provide $54.4 million to fund the establishment of a School of Dentistry and Oral Health based in Orange and Wagga Wagga to address the chronic shortage of dentists and oral health workers in inland NSW.

 

The new School would include Dental Education Clinics located on CSU campuses throughout inland NSW that will provide dental services to public and private patients as part of the clinical education program.