Charles Sturt University (CSU) is delighted that the spotlight has turned onto the critical shortage of dental workers in NSW. The University supports the State Government and NSW Opposition calls for action on dental health.

 

For the last two years, CSU has been increasingly concerned about the chronic shortage of qualified dentists and dental workers, particularly in regional NSW.

 

“The number of dentists in regional NSW does not meet the recommendation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),” says Mark Burton, CSU’s Dean of the Faculty of Health Studies. “The situation in the Central West of NSW is approaching the levels in some developing countries…just 17.3 dentists per 100 000. The OECD average is 56 dentists per 100 000 people.”

 

Today, the New South Wales Health Minister John Hatzistergos called on the Federal Government to provide more university places for dentists to help address the shortage. He says NSW is on the brink of a serious shortage of dentists.

 

In rural and regional NSW, the shortage is already here. Bourke is about to lose its only dentist, while Oberon has just secured the services of a dentist from Parkes two days a week. There is no dentist in Nyngan, and regional cities the size of Dubbo are suffering a shortage.

 

CSU welcomes the recent commitment by the NSW Government to recruit more dentists, allied dental health providers and specialists, which was made at the Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting held on 14 July.

 

“While the recent commitment of the NSW Government is strongly supported by CSU,” said Professor Burton, “we have not yet seen a tangible plan for increasing the number of dental practitioners in inland NSW.

 

“This plan must also address the need to support these students and give them access to quality clinical placements and training. It is not just a numbers game that will see the fix – it’s also about ensuring the right mix of support is there for dental students.

 

“The critical shortage of other health professionals in rural and regional areas is being directly addressed by our Health Sciences courses.

 

“CSU has already had tremendous success placing graduates in pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, occupational therapy and nursing into rural and regional practice,” said Professor Burton.

 

And CSU’s new Clinical Science degree, to be launched at CSU’s Orange Campus next month, is an initiative that has been created to streamline a limited number of rural and regional students into dental and medical degrees at Sydney University.