Category: Oral health
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Why it’s time to rethink oral health in Australia
Alexandra Jones For most of my 30 years in dentistry, I’ve spent my time helping people one mouth at a time. I’ve been a clinician, a researcher, an academic, and a dentist in metropolitan areas and across regional and remote Australia. Throughout this time, the more I saw of Australia’s…
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Dental in Medicare would be something to smile about
We’re calling on the next Australian Government to adopt a staged 10-year plan to provide dental and oral health care (both preventive and treatment) to all Australians through Medicare. Find out more on the Public Health Association of Australia’s Federal Election priorities site. This is part of an ongoing series…
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An app could improve access to oral healthcare
We recently launched our election priorities platform, Vote for Public Health. We’re calling on the next Australian Government to take action to prevent disease and ill-health in our community, including by making oral healthcare universal through Medicare. Find out more here. A version of this article was originally published by…
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Pathway to universal access to essential oral healthcare
Tan Nguyen and Sneha Sethi Successive Australian governments have struggled to address the funding gap to include oral health under Medicare. The burden of oral diseases in Australia amounts to 120,799 disability-adjusted life years for the 2023 population’s lifetime – which equates to $10.8 trillion in productivity losses. Among the…
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Mental and Dental: How systems thinking can transform oral health
Dr Silvana Bettiol, Associate Professor Archana Pradhan, and Professor Steve Kisely The increasing global challenge of mental health disorders poses a substantial burden on public health worldwide. Today, it accounts for approximately 5% of the worldwide disease burden. Those affected face an increased vulnerability to physical multimorbidity, encompassing conditions such…
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“A career in public health can transform people’s lives”: Introducing Tan Nguyen, PHAA Fellow
By Tan Nguyen, PHAA Fellow Tan Nguyen was awarded a PHAA Fellowship during the recent Australian Public Health Conference in Hobart. We talked to him about his passion for public health and career to date. What was your reaction to receiving the PHAA Fellowship? I am really honoured to be…
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Improving Access to Oral Healthcare for Children in Australia
Danielle Gavanescu, Master of Public Health student and former PHAA intern Making the news in Australia, particularly in 2022, have been the significant ongoing issues with accessing affordable oral healthcare across the country. Consumers and health professionals have shared their stories, and politicians have called for changes to the Medicare…
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Universal access to oral healthcare needs national leadership
Tan Nguyen and Associate Professor Amit Arora, Co-convenors, PHAA Oral Health Special Interest Group and Linda Doherty, Croakey Introduction by Croakey: There’s a strong economic argument for providing free – or at least affordable – dental healthcare as poor dental health is linked to chronic conditions such as stroke, heart and…
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Encouraging switching away from sugary drinks and towards water – using warning labels and Health Stars
Professor Caroline Miller, Dr Jo Dono and Dr Kerry Ettridge (SAHMRI and The University of Adelaide) Australia has one of the highest rates of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in the world. It is now well known that there are long term health impacts of consuming SSBs, including weight gain, Type…
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Better ways to prevent obesity and tooth decay in early childhood
Dr Narendar Manohar (Western Sydney University), Professor Andrew Hayen (University of Technology Sydney), Associate Professor Amit Arora (Western Sydney University) At school entry age, around 40% of Australian children already have tooth decay and around a quarter are overweight or obese. Both these conditions have a significant negative impact on…