Reform delay causes dental decay. It’s time for a national deal to fund dental care
- Written by Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute
A Senate committee[1] has investigated why so many Australians are missing out on dental care and made 35 recommendations for reform.
By far the most sweeping is the call for universal coverage for essential dental care. The committee also proposed a suite of measures to get more dental care to groups who are missing out, including those in rural areas.
The government has three months to respond. It should lay out a plan to gradually expand coverage, while putting guardrails in place to make sure care is effective, efficient and equitable.
Read more: Expensive dental care worsens inequality. Is it time for a Medicare-style 'Denticare' scheme?[2]
If Australians can’t pay, they miss out
The Senate committee report[3] follows more than a dozen[4] national inquiries and reports into dental care since 1998, many with similar findings.
Dental care was left out of Medicare from the start, due to opposition from dentists and concerns[5] about cost.
Half a century later, Australia still funds oral health very differently to how we fund care for the rest of the body, with patients paying most of the cost themselves.
As a result, many people miss out on care. In 2022-23[6], 2.3 million Australians skipped or delayed necessary dental care because of the cost – 17.6% of people, up from 16.4% the year before.
People on lower incomes were much more likely to miss out. People living in the poorest areas are around three times as likely to wait more than two years between visits to the dentist, compared to people in the wealthiest areas. One in four report delaying care.
