YOUR SAY
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should dental treatment be covered by Medicare? Would you be prepared to pay a higher Medicare levy if dental treatment was included?
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There should be some scheme which covers dental health. Especially for those with increased need or under financial duress. I'm not sure if medicare is the best but being a user of EPC for psychology we were thrilled with its coverage and now devestated at its Loss. Im intereted that no member of this audience made any mention of the documented medical links with poor dental health. It is well documented that preterm babies, possibly still births or miscarriages and cardiac disease have been shown to be linked to dental hygene. If this is the case surely its in all goverernments interest to use the health $ to prevent other costly medical interventions by encompasing dental health into any primary care plan.
By the time you've paid for your flight tickets and accommodation it would be cheaper to pay the high prices here! It would be
From reading these upteen pages, it seems that the general public has no grasp of the costs of dental treatment. Putting a dollar sign on how much the Medicare levy would need to increase, would be extremely difficult to... but it wouldnt come cheap. Oh and those pesky private dentists are just ripping everyone off aren't they?. Private dentists run with about 80-85% overheads. Charge any less than $300 and hr and it doesnt even put food on the table... unless the dentist is doing low cost short term treatment.
And under medicare, this is the dentistry that you would see - creating more long term problems that it actually solves.
yes i shoould be. detnal prices are gettiing really bad.
i am a dental hygienist myself and i understand that dentistry becomes a luxury rather than a necessity for some people because of the cost. i would love to see medicare cover all preventive treatments at least eg. scale and cleans, fissure seals, fluoride treatments etc.
Private Dentists are far too expensive. The dental clinic here for those living below their means has a lengthly waiting list and when it comes to 'root canal therapy', they don't do anything beyond 'extractions, or fillings'. Its about time we had Medicare coverage for Dental Treatment. I'm prepared to pay the higher levy. Come on Australia!!
Having had emergency dental treatment overseas, I found that my normal dentist in Brisbane probably isn`t the best dentist in the country. I Now went to my wife`s dentist: He is good but he charges almost twice the price. It turns out he is on par with dentists in Switzerland, a high price country. A panelbeater in Australia uses equipment more expensive than the dentist and charges some $80 p.h., My new dentist charges in the order of $400 p.h. Am I paying too much?It`s strange that so far I couldn`t find a schedule of average, or standard dentristry fees for Australia on the net. The same exists for the US. Do Australian Dentists have something to hide?
I understand that many dental problems are preventable. However, due to evolution we no longer have large jaws and gumlines to hold our wisdom teeth (third molars). Approximately 1% of humans have their wisdom teeth grow out in the correct and healthy manner. The other 99% have wisdom teeth that usually cause problems. This is in no way preventable. It is simply a downside to evolution. However, as a uni student who just affords the basic necessities of life I cannot afford a dew thousand dollars to have my wisdom teeth removed at the age of 20. Unfortunately for me there is a 2-3 YEAR waiting list in the public system to have your wisdom teeth removed and with my teeth and gums getting infected every 1-2 MONTHS it isn't looking good (or feeling too good either). Now I've looked after my teeth to the best of my ability and haven't had ANY problems so far with my teeth until now. Why isn't there at least a medicare rebate on wisdom teeth removal surgery?
There is a whole lot of good things to learn here so please read, and enjoy!
Firstly people should be pushed into the know how on teeth