Dental Package - As always, the devil is in the detail

The Australian Government's redirection of dental funding to 2-17 year olds and away from the nontargeted Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS) is a sensible initiative as it is investing in the future. However, the mode of closure of the CDDS has given little consideration to the many patients currently receiving treatment.

The Australian Dental Association Inc. (ADA) Federal President, Dr Shane Fryer has raised concerns that many patients currently accepted into the CDDS will be unable to complete their course of treatment by the closure date of 30 November 2012.

"Providing patients with only 12 weeks to complete treatment demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding about dental care by the Australian Government" stated Dr Fryer today. "Many of the patients being treated under the CDDS require complex care; some of which includes surgical procedures that need to be completed over a series of months, for example periodontal treatment. It is unreasonable to expect patients to now be responsible for the cost of procedures they consented to on the understanding their treatment would be covered by Medicare. Many patients will either abandon treatment or face bills they do not have the capacity to pay. If later treatment is possible the disruption to treatment continuity will lead to much of the treatment needing to be duplicated. Plainly, this is wasteful and could have been avoided with some considered forethought".

The ADA believes that at the present time too much attention has been given to achieving budgetary savings rather than focusing on maintaining government funded dental care before the planned implementation of the new programmes.

"Excusing this short-sightedness by laying the blame at the feet of dentists is the government's way of hiding behind the fact that the costs of the CDDS have blown out beyond budget. This blow out merely demonstrates the level of unmet need for dental services within the community. Since the inception of the CDDS the ADA has continually called for the replacement of this scheme with a more targeted proposal. It has regularly discussed remedial action with the government and outlined solutions to the issue of dentists not meeting all of the administrative requirements".

The ADA recommends that patients currently being treated under the scheme be given an adequate opportunity to complete their treatment. In the government's announcement patients have been given only three months for their treatment to be completed. Provision needs to be made for suitable applications for approval to be sought from Medicare if situations arise where this may be inadequate.