Only Wealthy Can Afford Healthy Teeth: Australian Minister Criticize
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has criticized exponential increases in dentists’ fees, warning that costs are so high that having healthy teeth is becoming the new indicator of personal wealth.
Ms Roxon told The Weekend Australian she planned to work with the dental profession on prices, arguing that dental care was becoming unaffordable for many Australians.
But Australian Dental Association president John Matthews yesterday justified fee levels of $200-$300 an hour as reflective of the cost of technology and said the average dentist earned only about $100,000 a year.
The Rudd Government is spending about $200 million a year boosting public dental services through grants to states to help clear waiting lists and vouchers for teenagers to receive publicly funded check-ups. It is also abolishing a Howard government scheme under which limited dental care was available under Medicare for the chronically ill - a move the Opposition is holding up in the Senate.
Ms Roxon said dentistry simply cost too much. “I think everybody worries about that - anybody who thinks they might have to go to the dentist does worry about that,” she said.
“It has increased exponentially over time. It’s a pretty basic part of your healthcare and it is becoming increasingly unaffordable.”
Ms Roxon said she was “staggered” when she became Labor’s health spokeswoman to learn how little access the poor had to dental care.
“The Australian Council of Social Service and others would come and say that now the key physical attribute that you can use to identify whether people are poor or not is their teeth,” she said.
The problem was partly related to a shortage of dentists, although this had been addressed through the creation of four new dental schools in recent years.
By Matthew Franklin, The Australian
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