The latest snapshot of the country’s dental health was released on Friday and it shows a growing number of Australians are unhappy with the way their teeth look.
There has been a substantial increase in the number of people reporting adverse social consequences due to their oral health over the past three decades, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Oral Health and Dental Care report.
Looking deeper into this issue, family income has a direct impact.
In one Survey 2021 of 8,000 Australians, conducted by the University of Adelaide, more than a third of adults in lower-income households felt uncomfortable about their teeth. This is a slightly higher rate than for all Australians (31.6%), but significantly more than those from higher income households (23.8%).
Overall, the study found that discomfort with dental appearance was most associated with lower household incomes, younger age groups, being indigenous (47%) and having 10 years or less of education (38%).
About a third of Australian households earned $62,000 or less in 2019-20according to the latest Income and Housing Survey.
The cost of dental care is a significant barrier to access, the AIHW report found.
More than 2 million Australians reported avoiding or postponing dental care due to costs in 2016-2017. Data from the same year showed that more than half of the cost of visiting the dentist was borne by patients, which was even higher for those without private health insurance.
The waiting list for government-covered dental care can be years long.
Some backstabbing Labor MPs have done just that recently advocated expanding Medicare to include dental care but Health Secretary Mark Butler has said this is not something the Government is looking at.
The Greens have proposed opening more than 1,000 health clinics nationwide to provide partially free dental care.