00:00Don Batty has always looked after his teeth, but age has taken its toll.
00:08These days the eight-year-old pensioner finds it hard to look in the mirror.
00:13I'm very embarrassed by my teeth and I try not to smile.
00:19The former police officer is missing multiple molars, which affects his speech and ability
00:24to chew.
00:26He can't afford to see a private dentist and has been on Queensland's public dental
00:30waiting list for 21 months.
00:33The waiting period to see a dentist here, other than for an emergency, is two years.
00:39Experts say it's a nationwide problem.
00:42The public dental system is overwhelmed.
00:44It's far too small to meet all of the demand for dental care.
00:48Around a third of Australians are eligible for free or low-cost dental care delivered by
00:53the states and territories with some federal funding.
00:57But unless a patient's issue is urgent, they're likely to be waiting months, if not years.
01:02As a result, we're seeing rising rates of untreated dental decay and toothaches.
01:08While each state report started differently, for non-urgent dental care, New South Wales
01:12aims to get patients off the waiting list within one and a half years.
01:16In Victoria, the average wait is just over 12 months.
01:19If those waiting lists were shorter, people would be able to keep more of their teeth
01:23for longer.
01:24The queues are quicker in South Australia and WA, but in Tasmania in the past 12 months,
01:29the median wait was two and a half years.
01:32There's a lot of links between poor dental health and overall health.
01:35One link that we know is very strong is between diabetes and poor dental health.
01:39The issue is also adding pressure to other parts of the health system.
01:42Each year, more than 80,000 people are turning up at hospital emergency departments with oral
01:47health problems that experts say are largely preventable.
01:51As the new federal parliament commences this week, the Greens are vowing to get teeth back
01:56on the table.
01:56We've got to get to work to bring dental care into Medicare right now.
02:03The minor party has lost former leader Adam Band, but gained the sole balance of power
02:08in the Senate, and hasn't ruled out blocking bills in a bid to force the government to act.
02:13There is an opportunity to raise this issue in the course of the passage of a debate, or
02:20in the course of the passage of a piece of legislation.
02:22Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC News,
02:25I can't say to people in the short term there's going to be any changes to dental, but I do
02:31recognise in the longer term there's a lot of ambition for dental to be covered by Medicare.
02:36In the meantime, people like Don will wait in long lines.
02:40That's just not acceptable in a modern country like ours.
02:44Many Australians have no choice but to accept it.
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