DENTAL HEALTH

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Health. What action is the government taking to make dental health care more accessible for South Australians?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:35): I thank the member for his question, and I acknowledge the member for Light's great interest in health issues. The government is committed to improving the access of all South Australians to oral and dental health care, and since coming to power this government has allocated an additional $36.5 million to the provision of public dental health services. We have also implemented effective demand management strategies, which focus resources on prevention and early intervention.

These measures have seen the average waiting times for general public dental health care fall from a high of 49 months, under the former government, in 2002, to 22 months currently. It is expected that the new federal government's introduction of the commonwealth dental health program will see further significant reductions in public dental waiting times, and even allow concession cardholders to receive regular checkups and preventive care.

We do, however, remain mindful that over 80 per cent of adult South Australians pay for their own oral health services on a private basis, with or without the assistance of dental insurance. A significant part of the government's plans to ensure that dental care remains accessible and affordable, for private and public patients is to review the dental practice regulations and, in particular, the role of dental therapists.

The current regulations restrict dental therapists to the treatment of children. We are currently consulting with professional bodies about lifting these restrictions to allow dental therapists to treat adults as well as children, as already occurs in many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Dental therapists can be and are trained to provide many aspects of high quality basic dental care. The treatment of adults by dental therapists would be on the prescription of a dentist—I will repeat that: would be on the prescription of a dentist—who has examined each patient, and would be under the dentist's supervision.

While South Australian children enjoy one of the very best government dental services for children anywhere in the world, we know that levels of dental care drop significantly once children enter adulthood. As children, of course, eligible for the school dental service, 99 per cent of primary school aged children and 97 per cent of secondary school aged children receive dental care within a two-year period.

This provides our state with the best oral health care system in Australia for children. Unfortunately, 33 per cent of 25 to 44 year olds report that they have avoided or delayed dental care as a result of cost. We also know that a shortage of dentists in rural areas is an obstacle for many South Australians seeking dental care. In South Australia we have more dentists per capita than in any other state. We do, however, have a problem with the distribution of dentists between urban and rural areas and the inner and outer metropolitan areas of Adelaide.

For the benefit of members, I will just reveal these figures. In South Australia, there are 54.5 dentists per 100,000 population, and they are distributed in an uneven way. For example, in Adelaide there are 65.7 dentists per 100,000. These are figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, from 2003. In outer Adelaide it is 17.9; the Yorke and Lower North it is 15.9; Murraylands, 27.5; South-East, 26.2; Eyre, 37.7; and Northern, 27.1. So, Adelaide is okay, but the rest of the state, the outer Adelaide area and the country areas, have a below average distribution of dentists.

We are also aware that there are access issues for the residents of aged care facilities. Restricted access to dental care is an alarming trend, because, as with any medical condition, oral health problems can become far more serious, and consequently far more expensive to resolve, if they are left untreated.

We believe that dental therapists can help alleviate a shortage of dentists in rural areas and provide routine dental care in the aged care sector. The expanded use of dental therapists will also serve to reduce cost pressures in dental care and allow dentists to concentrate on more complex dental issues.

Dental therapists are qualified professionals who are currently required to undertake a Bachelor of Oral Health, accredited by the Australian Dental Council. This is a full-time, three-year university degree. We are currently in discussion with the Australian Dental Association and other organisations to progress the implementation of these changes.