Lack of dental care leaves DV survivors missing teeth

A Senate committee into the provision and access of dental services has heard Australia has one of the worst rates of tooth loss when compared to other developed countries.

Senior lecturer at the University of Sydney dental school Shalinie King told the inquiry that some patients who use public dental care systems could wait years between losing their teeth and receiving a full set of dentures.

This can affect some of Australia's most vulnerable populations including women escaping domestic violence.

"These are fairly young women who would have had no teeth for three, four, maybe five years and they're waiting on dentures," she said.

Many of these women move a lot because they do not have stable accommodation, which means they have to re-register with whichever local health district they are in if they want to access public dental care, pushing them to the bottom of the waiting list.

Additionally, oral health is often not a high priority for domestic violence survivors due to other competing issues so many have never had their teeth checked.

Half of Australians over the age of 75 do not have enough teeth to function.

At one clinic in Western Sydney, patients had an average of 10 teeth - about a third the number of teeth healthy patients had.

The consequences of tooth loss can spill into other parts of life.

"If you only have three or four or maybe six teeth on your lower arch, it's hard to find employment, it's hard to go for a job interview," Dr King said.

Patients can feel stigmatised when they want to participate in social outings or even run errands like pick their kids up from school.

Others are forced to live off a liquid diet of smoothies and pulverised foods for years, which can have a significant impact on their overall health.

While removing decayed teeth and providing access to dentures improves their lives, it is not a long-term solution to the state of the nation's dental care.

"So we need to do something to help people retain teeth. We want people to age with teeth."

When they turn 18, many young people often are not covered by the public system but cannot afford private care either, Western NSW local health district clinical director Heather Cameron said.

"The investment that's made as children is then lost in that age group and it's never recovered and so we pay for it moving forward," Dr Cameron told the inquiry.

"There needs to be a safety net... because without that continuity of care in that population, their dentitions deteriorate, and that damage is actually lifelong."

Australian Associated Press