paul was lucky to have private health cover but access to quality and affordable health care should not be about luck.

I’ve been extremely lucky with my teeth. I’ve rarely required dental care… and for much of my adulthood I would have been hard pressed to find the money to pay full fees. As a result I’ve probably only been to a dentist a handful of times.

There was this time in 1999 when I attended the Flinders University Student Association’s free dentist. Laid back in his chair, I was told my wisdom teeth had ruptured and I must have them removed immediately. I was curious because I had no pain, and I was simply going to a free dentist to avoid writing my thesis (yes, the process of writing was so painful, I voluntarily chose to attend a dentist instead). I took the dentist’s advice under advisement given he referred me to his practice for the expensive extraction. In reality I had no intention of going. I was a student earning $15,000 a year and I simply could not afford it.

Flash forward to late 2021 and my luck had run out. I’m in agony each time I bite. Initially, I put this down to biting my gum and it being swollen for a bit, and then repeating the clumsy chewing act. But the pain persisted for days. My partner nudged me to see the dentist, and with the privilege of private health insurance I was seen on the same day I sought help. I feared that I would now have to have my wisdom teeth removed. 1999 had come back to haunt me.

Several hours later I was standing in a whiz-bang x-ray machine that was taking multiple shots of jaw. The dentist reviewed the images instantly on an iPad, and identified that I did not have a molar, nor a wisdom tooth in my lower left hand side. “Is that good?”, I asked curiously. “What’s causing the pain then?”. The dentist was gentle. He informed me that in the absence of a bottom row molar, the top one never rubs and wears down, it continues to grow, and now it is so long that when I bite it lands on my vacant (now swollen) gum. I was officially long in the tooth.

“What’s the solution?”, I ask tentatively.

The dentist explained the two options – reduce the length of the offending tooth, or remove it so there is a gap above my gap. The second was the permant solution and I went thru with it the next day – again by virtue of having private health insurance. The gap fee was a modest $10.

Postscript

I share this vignette because I have a recent appreciation of the impact of tooth pain on mood and enjoyment in life. I was in pain and it affected everything – speaking, eating, sleeping, smiling, being civil to other humans. More importantly, I share this because access to dental, to my mind, should be universal and low or no cost. I recall as a Family Support Worker, assisting several parents to access dental treatment by using brokerage funds to pay for the much needed treatment. The change in their health, and self esteem was incredible. I recall one parent that rarely smiled. She was self conscious and almost permanently covered the bottom half of her face with her hand. She feared spitting on people when she spoke. With the brokerage funds support the dental treatment fixed her teeth and proved to be a turning point in her life. Her confidence grew, she succeeded at job interviews, and secured work, which led to a stabilisation of her income and accommodation.

While I was at Anglicare Tasmania, the Social Action and Research Centre (SARC) released a report (see here) on the dental health of vulnerable Tasmanians. Now, almost 20 years after this report/campaign was initiated, we are still in a situation where Tasmania’s suffer due to the inaccessibility of dental services. Yes, there have been small changes in access for some parts of the State. Commonwealth funding through TAZREACH and RFDS has supported some rural communities to improve access. But this is not enough.

The extension of Medicare to include dental is a plausible solution. I would  willingly pay extra in the Medicare Levy to know that I’m supporting a system that enables every Australian to access quality, timely and low cost, or better still, no cost dental treatment when and where they need it. Let’s make it happen and sit back and smile when it is done.