Hannah Hammoud
The wait time to access public dental care in the west has continued to grow, according to data obtained by the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch (ADAVB).
The ADAVB obtained data under freedom of information from Dental Health Services Victoria shows the wait time to access general dental care at Western Health was 22.7 months in the 12 months from July 2022 – June 2023.
ADAVB president Jonathan Teoh said long waiting times for dental care can lead to worsening problems resulting in the need for emergency care. The ADAVB reports that one third of all courses of care are for emergency treatment rather than routine and preventive care.
“A lot of dental diseases are progressive in nature, and so we know that the longer people are waiting for care, and the longer you leave it, the worse it is going to get,” Mr Teoh said.
“If you leave a hole in your teeth for a long period of time, it is only going to get bigger. If we get to things earlier, then we might be able to save peoples teeth instead of having to remove them. Losing teeth is going to impact not just peoples dental health, but it will also impact their wellbeing and more broadly their ability to participate in society.”
Mr Teoh said that without further ongoing investments into the public sector, he predicts that the waiting time for public dental care is only going to rise.
“We had some injection of funding in the public sector post-covid that has certainly been welcome. However, inevitably waitlists are going to creep up after that point as the system does not have enough capacity to meet the needs of the population“ he said.
Western Health prioritises the next available appointment to those needing emergency care or people who are priority clients such as people experiencing homelessness, pregnant women, children and young people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Western Health deputy chief medical officer Associate Professor David Smallwood said despite a 14 per cent increase in presentations at Western Health’s dental clinic, the team has brought down wait times and provided care to more than 9000 patients in the past year.
“Those needing urgent or emergency dental treatment don’t need to join the waitlist and are able to access walk-in care,” he said.
