A government review is expected by December to hand down a report on options to revamp the run-down public dental health sector Photo: iStockTHE Greens are stepping up the pressure for the cash-strapped Gillard government to fund the first phase of a substantial upgrade in public dental services in next year's federal budget.
A government review is expected by December to hand down a report on options to revamp the run-down public dental health sector, which has been left in limbo because of a Senate deadlock over the future of a Medicare-funded dental scheme.
Greens' health spokesman Richard Di Natale said his party expected the government to starting putting in place from next year a significant expansion of dental services to help more than 500,000 Australians who could not afford dental care.
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''Poor dental health is one of the biggest causes of preventable presentations to the emergency room,'' Senator Di Natale said.
''We need to have a more universal scheme. In the long term we need to look at providing much broader access to dental care,'' he told The Age.
He said there was clear evidence of the gaps in dental care. While fewer than 1 per cent of well-off Australians had no teeth left, more than 17 per cent of those on the lowest incomes had no teeth.
The public system treated about 800,000 people a year, but these represented only about 11 per cent of people eligible for such services.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised a big boost to dental care as part of her agreement with Greens to win their support in Parliament.
Senator Di Natale said the Greens had reluctantly accepted the government's failure to deliver the promise in this year's budget but would be ''very disappointed'' if there were no evidence of a credible upgrade in dental care next year.
He would not be drawn as to whether failure to deliver would be grounds for the Greens to withdraw their support.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon this week announced the establishment of the National Advisory Council on Dental Health, headed by former senior Health Department official Mary Murnane.
''The council will look at how to improve services to ensure that Australians have access to high-quality, cost-effective dental services,'' Ms Roxon said
The Greens are also adamant that the government should transfer into any reform program the full extent of spending on the Medicare dental scheme, which the government has been trying to dump since 2008.
The scheme, which provides up to $4200 in dental work for people with a chronic illness, has been the subject of rorting claims and has blown out to about $1.8 billion over four years.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott established the scheme when he was health minister. The opposition in the Senate has blocked government demands to dump it.
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