List of recommendations
Recommendation 1
2.88The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers commissioning biennial national oral health studies—incorporating consistent measures of oral and dental health, habits and practices, service utilisation and outcomes—alternating between adults and children.
Recommendation 2
2.89The committee recommends that the Australian Government commissions research using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC), and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) to provide insights into:
oral health status, habits and practices, service utilisation, knowledge and awareness according to demographic factors;
the way in which dental habits, oral health issues and dental service access interact with demographic factors;
how habits and practices change across the life-course; and
long-term outcomes and impacts.
The research should be used to inform design and promotion of dental programs for children and to better target funding.
Recommendation 3
3.75The committee recommends that the Australian Government formally recognises that oral health is an essential part of general health.
Recommendation 4
3.80The committee recommends that the Australian Government establishes a taskforce within the Department of Health and Aged Care, overseen by a Chief Dental and Oral Health Officer, to identify and progress opportunities to integrate oral and dental health care into primary health care. Opportunities could include:
Adding an oral health assessment to existing targeted health assessments provided under Medicare, such as the Health Assessment Items 701, 703, 705, 707, and the children's Healthy Start for School assessments.
Introducing an oral health assessment as a standard component of the residential aged care intake process, and for residential disability care intake.
Incorporating emergency dental services into nurse-led walk-in centres and/or hospital emergency departments.
Providing mandatory training in basic oral health assessment and care to general practitioners and other health professionals.
Funding and empowering pharmacists and non-dental health professionals to apply fluoride varnish in regional and remote areas.
Adding 'oral health practitioners' to the terms of reference for the independent health workforce scope of practice review, being undertaken in 2023.
Integrating oral health and dental care within the National Health Reform Agreement.
Recommendation 5
3.83The committee recommends the Department of Health and Aged Care works to increase the role of dental hygienists and other oral health therapists in providing preventative and basic oral health care.
Recommendation 6
3.84The committee recommends the Department of Health and Aged Care assesses—with a view to reducing—regulatory barriers which limit the scope of practice for oral health practitioners who are trained and certified to proscribe and take radiographs. This could include reviewing provisions and/or definitions in:
the Poisons Standard; and
the Code of Practice and Safety Guide for Radiation Protection in Dentistry.
Recommendation 7
3.85The committee recommends the Department of Health and Aged Care works to increase the role of dental hygienists and other oral health therapists in providing preventative and basic care by adding a number of preventative oral health service items to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, under the category of Allied Health Services; and to the Department of Veterans' Affairs dental schedule.
Recommendation 8
3.88The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers commissioning a study into:
the impact of cancer and cancer treatment on dental and oral health; and
the need to provide coverage for oral health treatment, including restorative services for cancer survivors, including survivors of head, neck and oral cancers.
Recommendation 9
3.89The committee recommends that the Australian Government reviews the Medicare Benefits Schedule with a view to improving the accessibility of oral health treatment, including restorative services, for cancer survivors, including survivors of head, neck and oral cancers.
Recommendation 10
3.90The committee recommends that the Australian Government provides seed funding for a national oral health promotion and advocacy body, similar to the Heart Foundation.
Recommendation 11
4.29The committee recommends that the Australian Government works with states and territories to find ways to ensure access to adequate general and oral health services for people who are incarcerated.
Recommendation 12
4.129The committee recommends that the Australian Government implements the oral health care recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Recommendation 13
4.130The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers the establishment of a Seniors Dental Benefit Scheme.
Recommendation 14
4.133The committee recommends that states and territories take into account the need for culturally safe and effective treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Recommendation 15
4.135The committee recommends that the Australian Government works with state and territory governments to revise state-based legislation and regulations that prevent non dental health professionals from applying fluoride varnish treatments and fluoride salts, including in regional and remote areas of Australia.
Recommendation 16
4.136The committee recommends that the Australian Government examines the potential use of fluoride salts in areas that cannot have fluoridated water.
Recommendation 17
4.138The committee recommends that the Australian Government investigates expanding access to Tranexamic acid to dentists, such as by adding Tranexamic acid mouthwash to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Recommendation 18
4.141The committee recommends that the National Disability Insurance Agency clarifies that dental and oral health supports that are directly required because of a person's disability can be funded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and provides specific training and guidance for NDIS decision makers. The kinds of supports that could be funded include:
oral splints that assist with speaking or swallowing;
modified toothbrushes and flossing devices; and
any other reasonable and necessary oral health care consumables.
Recommendation 19
4.143 The committee recommends that the Australian Government supports the dental industry to incorporate new training and competency requirements for dentists and other oral health professionals in treating people with disabilities and complex needs.
Recommendation 20
4.144The committee recommends that the Australian Government makes the necessary changes to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) regulations to allow assessment, recommendations, and support to be provided by dental hygienists, oral health therapists and other oral health professionals, under the NDIS, for people whose disability directly impacts their oral health.
Recommendation 21
4.146The committee recommends that the Australian Government implements the recommendations from the Report on the Fifth Review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008.
Recommendation 22
4.147The committee recommends that the Australian Government develops a plan and timeline to expand access to the Child Dental Benefits Schedule to all children, over time, initially targeting better access for disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
Recommendation 23
4.148The committee recommends that the Australian Government introduces a remote area loading for services delivered under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule in remote and very remote areas of Australia.
Recommendation 24
4.150The committee recommends that the Australian Government works with the states and territories to ensure access to general anaesthetic, and other forms of sedation, can be provided in an accessible and timely way. This will support access to dental care for persons with disabilities and/or complex needs who require sedation.
Recommendation 25
5.66The committee recommends that the Australian Government works with the states and territories to improve remuneration and conditions for dentists and oral health practitioners practicing in the public sector, so these may be more competitive with the private sector.
Recommendation 26
5.68The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers supporting universities located in regional areas to establish dental schools, or expand current courses to accommodation more students.
Recommendation 27
5.69The committee recommends that universities be incentivised to implement alternative entry pathways, such as Principals' recommendations, and allocate specific course places for regional and remote students to study dentistry and oral health.
Recommendation 28
5.71The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers funding evidence-based programs to incentivise dental and oral health providers to practice in regional and remote areas of Australia.
Recommendation 29
5.72The committee recommends that the Australian Government expands existing medical student rural subsidy programs to include dental and oral health students.
Recommendation 30
5.73The committee recommends that the Australian Government investigates implementing a requirement for a 12-month compulsory paid placement working within the public health system following graduation in order to qualify for the dental license/complete their studies.
Recommendation 31
5.75The committee recommends the Australian Government works to increase the size of the oral health therapist workforce by putting into place incentives to study oral health therapy and providing scholarships for students from regional areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Recommendation 32
5.76The committee recommends that the Australian Government adequately recognises the need for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to:
train general health care providers in delivering basic and preventative oral health care; and
recruit and retain dentists, and other oral health practitioners, to work in regional and remote areas of Australia.
Recommendation 33
6.108The committee recommends that the Australian Government appoints a Chief Dental and Oral Health Officer, and establishes an Office of Dental and Oral Health in the Department of Health and Aged Care, to coordinate national reforms.
Recommendation 34
6.110The committee recommends that the Department of Veterans' Affairs improves rebates provided to dental prosthetists to achieve parity with the rates paid to dentists, to correct the price discrepancy.
Recommendation 35
6.113 The committee recommends that the Australian Government works with the states and territories to achieve universal access to dental and oral health care, which expands coverage under Medicare or a similar scheme for essential oral health care, over time, in stages.