What’s driving the blow out in waiting times for dental treatment

There are calls for government to “prioritise” oral health in Australia, with wait times for dental treatment blowing out significantly.

Matt Hopcraft, Victorian CEO of the Australian Dental Association, told 3AW it wasn’t a new issue.

“We have been talking about this for years,” he said.

“It’s because our governments, state and federal, just don’t prioritise oral health in the way they should.

“We need more long-term funding.”

He said the numbers spoke for themselves.

“We have something like 2.5 million people eligible to access that public dental service and we are only seeing 400,000 a year – that’s how under-resourced the system is,” he said.

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