Overview of Commonwealth funding of dental care

The funding of dental services by State and Federal Governments has long been a confusing and contentious matter.

The publication of an overview of the Commonwealth Government's involvement in funding dental care is therefore a welcome development.

The Parliamentary Library at the Parliament of Australia has now published a Research Paper (13 August 2008, No.1 2008-09, ISSN 1834 9854), which will prove informative to dental practitioners and members of the public trying to gain a clearer understanding of the way public dental funding has been provided by the Commonwealth Government at various times.

Strangely, the report uses data from the 1990's when referring to private dental fees. More recent data suggests that many dental fees have not been increasing by as much the rest of the Health index. The overview also appears to be out of touch with the impact of new dental schools and the significant increases in the number of dentists in training over the last few years.