The Australian Dental Association, Royal Flying Doctors Service and Tasmanian Council of Social Services have called on the federal government to increase long-term dental funding, identifying the elderly and remote regional communities as at-risk demographics.
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Australian Dental Association president Dr Girish Sasidharan said that dental issues in aged care residents had become a health crisis, with many unable to afford private health insurance.
"Many of them have unaddressed dental and gum problems, which is causing a lot of systemic illnesses like respiratory diseases, cardiovascular problems, and so on," Dr Sasidharan said.
"There is a mental health factor to it as well that affects their confidence in functioning."
Royal Flying Doctors Service chief executive John Kirwan said funding was also needed so those remote communities could also access adequate dental services.
Mr Kirwan said a lack of preventative education and resources in regional areas had led to untenable waitlists and high rates of expensive dental issues.
"It's all very well having a service that's based in one of the big cities. But if you can't access it, you're not getting it," Mr Kirwan said.
TasCOSS chief executive Adrienne Picone said that not enough Tasmanians were able to access public dental clinics and that oral health services needed to be included in universal health schemes such as Medicare.
"Poor oral health is a badge of poverty for the many thousands of Tasmanians who simply can't afford to go to the dentist," Ms Picone said.
"What we know is that one in five adult Tasmanians don't go to the dentist because it's too expensive".
Although neither major political party has put forward a policy to include dental services in Medicare this election, Ms Picone said the royal commission into aged care had opened the door to establishing a senior's dental health scheme.
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