Financial barriers mean some Australians are travelling overseas for more affordable dental care, but it's not without risk. While there's a push for federal and state governments to improve access to oral health care, thousands of Australians have already raided their super to pay for treatments.
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00:00 Lesley Hyde is a Bali regular, travelling to the island of the gods for holidays and
00:07 dental care.
00:09 As well as the cheaper cost, it is a lot quicker and no waiting periods.
00:13 She's had veneers on her top teeth. While the work was largely cosmetic, for others
00:19 it's essential.
00:20 I've got a friend who's getting bone grafting done and implants and again it's about a sixth
00:26 or seventh of the cost of getting it done in Australia.
00:29 Tracy King had her Bali dental treatment two years ago, after medication for an autoimmune
00:35 condition left her with painfully broken down teeth.
00:39 When I would eat food they would all sort of crack or just the bottom of them would
00:42 disintegrate because the enamel had broken down from the steroid use.
00:45 The cheapest Australian quote was more than $12,000. She ended up paying $3,300 in Bali.
00:53 The 49-year-old says she's fortunate she could afford the trip, but many Aussies are stuck
00:59 with a broken dental system.
01:01 If you can't afford it, be prepared that your teeth are going to rot in your mouth and fall
01:05 out before you can access that care.
01:07 While both women are happy with the care they got overseas, dentists say there are risks.
01:13 They include over-servicing or having unnecessary procedures, use of poorer quality materials
01:19 and little legal recourse.
01:21 As a specialist prosthodontist I see numerous patients which are basically disasters and
01:27 need complete re-treatment or even lose many teeth.
01:30 More than 85% of dental care in Australia is done privately and it's expensive.
01:36 We're a highly regulated, developed country with high wages, high building costs, high
01:40 energy costs.
01:42 The minority of adults who qualify for free dental in the public health system face long
01:47 waiting times.
01:48 Dental tourism is just one symptom of a system in crisis.
01:53 More than 8,000 Australians were given permission to raid their super to pay for dental treatment
01:59 in 2021-22, up 45% on the year before.
02:04 In November, a Senate Committee on Dental Services made 35 recommendations, including
02:11 that the Commonwealth and states work to achieve universal access to oral care over time.
02:18 The federal government is yet to respond.
02:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]