Dental and Oral Health in Australia and Queensland

Running head: ECONOMICS
Economics
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ECONOMICS
Dental and oral health in Australia and Queensland
A good oral health is necessary to the overall health and well being. The oral health is
usually referred to the condition of teeth and gums of a person. In the year 2010, it have been
found out that more than 50 percent of the population of 6 years old known to have
experienced decay n their baby teeth and nearly about 50 percent of the population have
experienced decay in the permanent teeth. In the year 2013, around 20 percent of the adult
population who are above 65 years old had no natural teeth. Around 64 percent of people
who are aged 5 years and over known to have visited the dentist frequently( Dental & oral
health Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare., 2019). The major measures of
the oral health in Australia suggested that there have been huge improvements over the long
term. Although in the recent years, there is some indication that nearly 40 percent of the
population have been experiencing tooth decay. In contrast to the recent negative trends of
the oral health, the trends of people visiting the dentists have become positive in nature.
More than 60 percent of the population who are known to age over 15 years and above have
visited dentists quite frequently in 2010. There have been also a recent growth in the supply
of the dental practitioners which is known to influence the dental care availability across the
population. In the year 2012, employment of the dental practitioners have increased from
18000 to 19,600. During this period from 2011 to 2012, the full time rate of dentist per ten
thousand people have increased from 55 to 57 percent. The Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare are known to improve the welfare and health of the Australians by providing various
policies.

ECONOMICS
The economic and social costs of poor dental health borne by both individuals and the
society
The dental health is known to have been largely excluded from the heath Scheme
Medicare of Australia which resulted to a significant suffering for those who cannot afford
the expense of the private dental care. This problem is generally concentrated among the low
income individuals and marginalised groups from whom the financial cost is the main reason
for not seeking help with dental problems. The oral conditions like tooth decay, gum disease
and oral trauma are known to create a burden as they have a direct effect on the people’s
quality of life and also have an indirect impact on the economy. Therefore it can be said that
the quality of life is generally affected by the dental disease in a number of ways. The
positive externality of water fluoridation is that it benefits children of the lower income group
who tend to have high amount of dental decay and also have less access to dentists. Also,
there is absence of any health risks which is associated with the fluoridation programme.
Figure 1Negative externality of poor dental health