Patients needing public dental care in Wyndham are languishing on waiting lists for an average of more than three years, according to statistics obtained by the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch (ADAVB).
The ADAVB has released a list of average waiting times for general dental care in municipalities across the state as of December 2021, which they acquired through a Freedom of Information request lodged with Dental Health Services Victoria.
Within the Wyndham, Hobsons Bay and Brimbank municipalities, the average waiting time listed for public dental treatment was 45.3 months, with some people waiting up to 61 months.
More than 11,450 people are waiting for general dental care across the three areas.
ADAVB chief executive Associate Professor Matt Hopcraft said that the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on access to basic dental care have contributed to a blow-out in public waiting times.
He said the average public dental waiting time across the state was 24.8 months.
The ADAVB is calling on state and federal governments to boost funding to tackle waiting lists and provide an increase in long-term funding, to double the number of patients receiving care over the next five years.
In 2021, Cohealth – a not-for-profit community health service in the west – sent a submission to a state government-appointed committee conducting an inquiry into support for older Victorians from culturally diverse backgrounds, that included recommendations on public dental health care.
The submission stated that due to the “prohibitive” cost of private dental care, many older Victorians “have no choice but to languish on public dental waiting lists, where the wait for care can be years”.
“There is an urgent need to increase funding to public dental services to reduce overall wait times,” the submission added.
A state government spokesperson said $360 million was being invested dental services across 2021-22.
The spokesperson said that when restrictions on dental activity began in 2020, eligible Victorians were able access dental care at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and community-based dental services.
The spokesperson said the state government was also calling on the federal government “to properly fund dental services and continues to advocate for long-term, sustainable funding arrangements”.
