Good dental health is an indicator of overall well being -- but many Indigenous Australians suffer poor oral health. A lack of access to services is a big factor -- but a free dental clinic run by students is improving health outcomes for Indigenous residents of a bush community in southern Queensland.
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00:00 Gavin Soltner is serious about his smile.
00:04 He's been a regular patient at the UQ Dental Clinic since it opened in Dalby 10 years ago.
00:10 I tell my people to come along because they're good people and they want to help us.
00:16 His check-ups are all administered by students under supervision for free.
00:21 It helps our people. Some of our people, like I say, just can't afford to travel.
00:26 So it's in your own town, which is great.
00:31 It's a sought-after learning experience that fills a workforce gap
00:35 and exposes students to challenges faced by Indigenous patients who are at higher risk of dental disease.
00:41 A lot of patients do come from quite far away. They drive like two, three hours even to come see us.
00:48 I think it does give you a bit of a better idea of what goes on in Australia as a whole.
00:56 So not just in the big cities, but also in the smaller towns like Dalby.
01:01 Locally, the Dalby Clinic is turning things around, with a study confirming the positive impact on patients.
01:07 There's a lot less sort of emergency work, extractions, people losing teeth and needing dentures.
01:15 These days, much more of the treatment that the students provide is actually preventive services.
01:22 After a decade of operation, soon to be 180 graduates, and now data to back it up,
01:28 those involved in the clinic believe it's a model of care that can be replicated across rural and regional Australia.
01:34 We're hoping to take this forward. Goondi is working on establishing a bigger clinic in Chinchilla as well.
01:39 We want to replicate this model out there.
01:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]