The NobleDentist Blog

Dr Patricia Morrison and Dr Sally Farhandi of Excellence in Dentistry are becoming participating dentists.

Dr Patricia Morrison and Dr Sally Farhandi are located at Suite 26, Morris Towers, 149 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane Queensland.

Members wanting to make an appointment can simply click on Dentists Brisbane for contact details.

To learn how to save hundreds and even thousands of dollars off dental fees click on dental plan.

Dr Patricia Morrison and Dr Sally Farhandi and the team look forward to assisting members of NobleDentist.

Dr Paul Ehrlich of Dr Paul Ehrlich & Associates is becoming a participating dentist.

Dr Paul Ehrlich is located at 830 Anzac Parade, Maroubra Junction, New South Wales.

Members wanting to make an appointment can simply click on Dentist Maroubra Junction for contact details.

To learn how to save hundreds and even thousands of dollars off dental fees click on dental plan.

Dr Paul Ehrlich and the team look forward to assisting members of NobleDentist.

This is an article by Jennifer Macey that recently appeared on the ABC News Online.

About 30 per cent of Australians only go to the dentist when they have a serious problem. (ABC News)

The annual visit to the dentist is becoming a luxury for many Australians, with a new report showing about 40 per cent of the population do not go for regular check-ups.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found another 30 per cent say they simply cannot afford it or have trouble accessing a dentist.

The report shows those who avoid going to the dentist are also three times more likely to have untreated tooth decay or gum disease.

The author of the report, John Spencer, is a professor of social and preventive dentistry at the University of Adelaide.

Professor Spencer says about 30 per cent of Australians only go to the dentist when they have a serious problem.

He says this often means they have advanced stages of tooth decay or gum disease.

“These issues of having put off visiting may be because of financial reasons or because of anxiety, learning that they have fairly significant issues that need to be dealt with, finding that they’re not in a comfortable position to actually go ahead with the best treatment options and facing the decision to have teeth extracted which is often a low-cost solution to their problem,” he said.

The figures come as no surprise to Dr Shane Friar, the president of the Australian Dental Association.

“It appears the disadvantaged group of the community – and disadvantage is not just from an economic perspective. It can be location, where rural and remote people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities, they are having difficulty accessing dental care,” he said.

Tony McBride, the chairman of the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance, says Australian children have good dental health thanks to school dental programs.

But he says there is a huge gap in dental care when it comes to the adult population.

“If you are wealthy, if you have got a reasonable income, you can pay for dental care,” he said.

“If you’re very poor you can get public care but have to wait for it.

“There is a massive group in the middle who just can’t afford regular, proper dental treatment in the way they should be getting.”

In next month’s budget the Australian Dental Association is calling on the Government to redirect current funding for public dentistry and target those unable to afford or access oral health care.

Mr McBride says the current funding could be better targeted but says the only long-term solution is a universal scheme such as Medicare for dentistry.

“You don’t need to have a particular income level to go and see a GP. We have a universal scheme,” he said.

“It is about catching health issues early and dealing with them at a local level and we ought to have exactly the same scheme when it comes to dentistry.

“There is no real reason why we should treat the mouth totally differently from the rest of the body.”

This is an article that recently appeared in the ABC News Online.

The Australian Dental Association says more incentives are needed to attract dentists to regional South Australia.

It says some public patients have to wait more than two years to see a dentist and private patients can face a six-month wait.

The federal budget provided funding for new surgeries at Mount Gambier, Berri, Wallaroo and Port Lincoln.

Association president Dr Angela Pierce welcomed the funding, but said more focus was needed on staffing regional SA.

“Things like scholarships for dental graduates or relocation payments like the government has done for general practitioners,” she said.

SA Health said it was putting great effort into attracting dentists to regional areas.