The drill on dental savings
A SIMPLE change in how dental care is delivered could save millions in taxpayer funds and reduce waitlists that force disadvantaged Australians to wait years for treatment, according to Deakin University research.
The study crunched the numbers on transitioning one of Australia’s largest public dental programs to a delivery model led by more oral health therapists alongside dentists.
It showed that if the Federal Government’s national scheme to increase access for children was administered by Victoria’s workforce ratio of two oral health therapists to every three dentists, it could save $67 million from the program’s annual expenditure.
Lead author Tan Nguyen, an honorary fellow in Deakin Health Economics’ new oral health research stream, part of the its Institute for Health Transformation, said better use of oral health therapists in the delivery of public dental services for children would significantly improve efficiencies.
“Countries that want to embed dental services in universal health care must maximise the role of oral health therapists to improve efficiency,” Mr Nguyen said.
“The potential cost-savings could be reinvested in other public dental initiatives such as school-based dental check programs, or resource allocation to eliminate adult dental waiting lists in the public sector, which can run up to three years or more.”
Mr Nguyen, a practising oral health therapist, said many dental services were provided by dentists and oral health therapists, apists, adding that the current Australian dental workforce rce mix required ed dentists, , who were qualified to provide complex dental services, to deliver routine e services that at could be provided by an n oral health therapist apist at a reduced cost. t
“The oral health therapy workforce provides highquality and cost-effective dental services within their scope of practice, which enables dentists to focus on mo m re complex co procedures,” proce he said. “An oral health therapist undertakes a threeyear bachelor degree, compared with five to seven years of training for dentists. Their work is narrower in scope and much more focused on prevention, including check-ups, teeth cleaning, simple fillings and some teeth removal.
“On average, their salary in the public sector is 30 per cent less for carrying out these procedures.”
As part of Mr Nguyen’s study, the average 30 per cent salary difference between the two professions was used to adjust the cost for each type of service offered under the child dental benefits schedule.
The research team — which also included trained dentists — then analysed the two different variables.
Firstly, they looked at a scenario where services were offered under the national workforce ratio of one oral health therapist to every four dentists. And another scenario was modelled on the Victorian workforce ratio, which has a larger oral health therapy workforce at two oral health therapists to every three dentists.
They then looked at how using those two workforce models would result in cost savings at the program’s target population uptake — 29 per cent of Australia children aged between two and 17 — and also at the Government’s target rate of 80 per cent.
“In Australia, oral conditions are the second most common cause of acute, potentially preventable hospitalisations, and currently nearly a third of children aged five to six have never visited a dental practitioner, so it’s crucial we improve access to oral health services at all stages of life,” Mr Nguyen said.
“It’s always been a big issue for governments to fund dental because they believe it’s a high cost. Our work shows it doesn’t have to be as high as they think. There are more sustainable ways to deliver public dental services, and this economic analysis shows a better use of resources is possible.”