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Dental Tribune Asia Pacific Edition No.4, 2017

Dental Tribune Asia Pacifi c Edition | 4/2017 ASIA PACIFIC NEWS Australian Child Dental Benefi ts Schedule remains unchanged 03 AD By DTI CANBERRA, Australia: Amid fi erce criticism from dental groups and the opposition, the Australian government has decided to re- tain the Child Dental Benefi ts Schedule (CDBS) at its full rebate amount of A$1,000. Initially, the government planned to termi- nate the scheme completely ac- cording to the 2016–17 budget re- leased last May. In December, it then announced that the scheme was to be saved, but with a wa- tered-down amount of A$700 available per child—both propo- sitions have now been aban- doned. The CDBS, which was intro- duced by the former Labor Party government and commenced in January 2014, allows low-income families to claim a rebate of up to A$1,000 per child every two years for dental care. However, at about A$312 on average, most families claimed less than a third of the full rebate in the past. “In light of this, the Govern- ment had previously set the cap at $700 per child over a two-year period, which would still allow children to visit a dentist regu- larly,” Minister for Health Greg Hunt said previously in a state- ment. However, after both Labor and the Greens indicated that they would veto the change in the Senate, Hunt announced the reinstatement of the full rebate just hours before the motions were to be voted on in February. According to Hunt, the decision followed consultation with the Australian Dental Association. Commenting on the move, Australian Dental Association Vice President Dr Carmelo Bo- nanno said it was a common sense decision by the govern- ment. “The reduction of A$700 meant that about 20 per cent of children were going to miss out if they were going to try and uti- lise the scheme fully,” Bonanno told ABC News. Regarding the low amount claimed on average in the past, Bonanno reasoned this could be attributed to a lack of awareness of the scheme. “Improving peo- ple’s awareness of that means that there’ll be better utilisation of the scheme and the outcomes are going to be far better,” he said, adding that the dental asso- ciation had already discussed the need for better marketing of the scheme with the govern- ment. Estimating general dental care costs, the Australian Health- care and Hospitals Association calculated that children with the top 10 per cent highest need would be likely to require up to A$2,050 worth of dental work over two years and children at moderate risk would need up to A$1,123 worth of work. Keeping the scheme at A$1,000 would therefore help parents to con- tinue to provide much-needed dental health care for their chil- dren, rather than delay treat- ment because of a lack of money, the association stated. Tetric® N-Ceram Bulk Fill The efficient posterior composite Save 55% on time* and achieve amazing results N O W A S A F L O W ! - m a r e C N ® c i r t e T d n a w o F - N ® c l i r t e T h t i w d e r a p m o C * . t s e u q e r n o l e b a I v o c e r L I G HT I N I i n ® R O T I A T T E N TED PA l i a v a a t a D Tetric® N-Ceram Bulk Fill Tetric® N-Flow Bulk Fill sculptable flowable www.ivoclarvivadent.com Ivoclar Vivadent AG Bendererstr. 2 | 9494 Schaan | Liechtenstein | Tel.: +423 235 35 35 | Fax: +423 235 33 60

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