In recent years, the orthodontic sector has been growing rapidly due to success in B2C marketing and companies like Invisalign reaching the consumer, but there has also been a lack of knowledge sharing among general dental practitioners and specialists.
General dentists require mentorship and guidance from orthodontists to feel confident in providing orthodontic treatment to their patients, ultimately improving the quality of care in the community.
Winning the Australian Dental Industry Award for Marketing has had a big impact to Dental Marketing Solutions. As Angus comments in closing, “Receiving the award is social proof to say, well, these guys must know something, because an independent body of their peers has assessed them and said”. He added, “Certainly it’s been good in terms of building our business.”
Since its launch in 2014, the Child Dental Benefits Schedule has seen a gradual increase in participation year on year. The impact of COVID-19 and related shutdowns saw participation fall sharply in 2020. Though it increased 2021, the national target of 41% participation was not reached in 2021-2022, with the total (35.4%) more than three percent below 2018 participation rates.
In an opinion segment, Australian Health Journal spoke with Abano Healthcare Group Clinical Director, Dr Fred Calavassy, with over 30 years of clinical experience, about his observations of the Child Dental Benefits Scheme ways to increasing participation rates.
In 2023, there are a number of changes occurring in dental services including the start of a new Senate inquiry and new registered nurses in residential aged care. Yet in the meantime there are gaps and delays in dental and oral health interventions for elderly Australians, unless training is more widely deployed.
Australian Health Journal spoke to Leonie Short, a dental therapist working for Seniors Dental Care Australia on what she considers are dental and oral health priorities for the elderly, based on her work in the aged, home and disability sectors.
In this People In Health Care segment, Dr Gadiyar spoke to Australian Health Journal on how she hopes the app will help increase the number of people seeking dental treatment from the current 47% level in Australia. To date, 120,000 users have downloaded the app with more than 50 dental practices signed up with Smilo.ai to receive individual enquiries or seek dental treatment.
Leonie Short is a Dental Practitioner and Dental Therapist. She started working as a dental therapist in Rural NSW and then moved into being an academic and researcher. Through her career, Leonie has worked at 6 universities across New South Wales and Queensland, and remaining community focused.
Leonie’s mission is to have improved oral health experiences and outcomes, however she recognises, the health system really needs to work hard to make it happen and for people to understand why it needs to be a priority.
Dental Health Services Victoria has implemented a value based health model for oral health, around the patient and the clinician that included both during co-design. This has been possible with a single oral health data system for the state of Victoria and staff keeping in mind the value and outcomes that patients seek.
