Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot say that I am pleased to speak on the issue of dental health, but it is a very important issue and one that I raise again in the grievance debate this afternoon. A number of people from my constituency have travelled to Canberra to hear what I have to say today on this issue. In my capacity as a federal member I get a good opportunity to appreciate what governments at all levels can do to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the community. One of my greatest concerns—and, as I say, this is not the first time I have spoken on the issue—is the inability of many of my constituents to afford private dental treatment. They are in the position of not being able to access any preventative dental health and, even when they are in great pain, they often have to wait months to get access to urgently needed attention.

One of my constituents, Colin Yarwood, who is with us today, is a disability pensioner who was unable to face a three-month wait to have a diseased tooth pulled out. He solved the problem himself with the help of his own pliers and a medicinal dose of bourbon. As he recounted in our local paper:

I was in pain, it was indescribable and I couldn’t eat properly, but I was told there was a three month waiting list

In another recent article Donna Stewart talked about her two-year wait for attention to her teeth and gums. She recounted the story about her gums shrinking and her teeth being so loose that she pulled four teeth out with her fingers. A front tooth had fallen out on its own.

These are two examples, but they are the human face of the public dental crisis facing our nation. They are but two of the 7,586 people waiting for public dental work in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region.

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