Improving Oral Health and Access to Dental Care

A lack of universal access to high quality dental health services has a significant impact on the health outcomes of Australians.

National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission Fact Sheet

Universal access to dental care
Expanding our dental workforce
Promoting oral health
More information

A lack of universal access to high quality dental health services has a significant impact on the health outcomes of Australians.

Universal access to dental care

All Australians should have universal access to preventative and restorative dental care and dentures, regardless of their ability to pay. This should occur through a new ‘Denticare Australia’ scheme. This new scheme would provide preventative, diagnostic and restorative services, including extractions and dentures. This could be funded by an estimated increase in the Medicare Levy of 0.75 per cent in addition to existing funding by governments.

Australians would get the choice of either a dental health plan from an insurer or rely on expanded public dental services funded by ‘Denticare Australia’.

There should also be a nation-wide expansion of pre-school and school dental programs.

Expanding our dental workforce

Australia’s dental workforce should be built up through a one-year internship scheme prior to full registration. This would bring dental practitioners in line with other medical practitioners.

Promoting oral health

More funding should be provided to promote improved oral health, with interventions to be decided on relative cost-effectiveness assessment.

More information

This is a summary of some of the major recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. Full recommendations can be found in A Healthier Future For All Australians – Final Report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission – June 2009