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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-03 Daily Xml
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COMMUNITY OUTREACH DENTAL PROGRAM

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:44): I do not know about other members of parliament, but it seems just about everywhere I go I get lobbied on issues. Most recently, I went to the dentist—and I might say that my dentist is also shared by minister Bignell and, as I understand it, the member for Ramsay. I discovered that the three of us all have the same dentist, but anyway. I am fairly sure that my dentist would be a supporter of the Liberal Party so, whenever I go to the dentist, which is fairly rarely, he takes advantage of the fact that I cannot talk back but, in this particular instance, he was talking to me about a program that he is involved with at the University of Adelaide, and I think it is a really impressive program.

As a consequence of him talking to me, I was referred to Mr Paul Finn, the Director of Fundraising and Development for the University of Adelaide, regarding the Community Outreach Dental Program. I am told that the program provides dental and other health services for people who have suffered homelessness or difficulty in accessing conventional care. This program is coordinated by the University of Adelaide School of Dentistry, and I am very pleased to say that my dentist is very much involved with the dental clinic which has been established with the support of commercial groups, various dental groups and a commonwealth grant.

I am looking at the Minister for Community Services, and I am sure he knows all about this, so he is someone with whom I want to talk further about this program. I am told that the program is located in the Common Ground complex in Light Square—and minister Piccolo is nodding so he does understand this program. I also know that there is a health service provided in that facility as well. The centre, I am told, is managed by Margie Steffens from the university and, basically, the dentists are volunteers who come from the university's dental school staff, the students, private dentists, as I said, my dentist, and allied health professionals.

Since opening in September 2011, the centre has been operating for up to four days a week and has attended (and I am sure that it is more than this now) over 70 clients all contributing to over 700 clinical hours for the University of Adelaide dental and oral health students. Mr Finn told me that some of the clients having dental treatment—and this is a bit sad I think—sometimes for the first time, have said that getting their teeth fixed has changed their lives. We all know about the connection between good dental health and general health but, in many cases, because clients have had their teeth fixed, they are now feeling more confident about speaking to other people, and feeling more confident about applying for jobs and following up on other services that they need.

The clinic treats about 20 to 25 patients per week and there would be around 20 individual screenings conducted each month. Services provided by the clinic include fillings, preventive services, scale and clean, acrylic dentures, extractions, root canals, reviews and maintenance. All the dental services are provided by volunteer dentists. I am also told that clients are sourced through screenings at most of the allied services offered in the Adelaide CBD for homeless people.

Additionally, all fifth year dental students and final year Bachelor of Oral Health students are rotated through the clinic as part of their course, and the point made here is that, due to the homelessness demographic quite often having very little interaction with the medical system, this program has provided valuable research information to the dental industry. I understand that the university has contributed significantly to linking up the findings from the centre to education and research within the dental school. This is a unique national program with no other Australian city being able to replicate the program to date. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Huebal, in particular, for telling me about this program.

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