Dental As Anything

Seemingly neutral prerequisite subjects and admissions settings systematically disadvantage rural and low socioeconomic status students - a question of fairness that has workforce implications.Have you ever thought about how you were selected into dental school, and whether that process was the best way to select future dentists? Or perhaps more importantly, how that selection process shapes the profession and ultimately plays a role in either improving health outcomes or exacerbating inequities in access to care.Some interesting new evidence looks at how selection criteria for medical school might perpetuate disadvantage, particularly for students from rural areas and lower socioeconomic backgrounds.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I look at some of the evidence that underpins student selection, and talk about ways in which this might contribute to the maldistribution of the dental workforce, particularly from a geographic perspective. Could this then be one of the levers that might help improve access to care in underserved communities? Somecontentious food for thought.

In a country gripped by an affordability crisis, what are we doing to ensure that all Australians can access the dental care that they need?Recent news stories have shone a light on dental affordability, with many Australians flocking overseas for major dental treatment. For many Australians, dental care has quietly become a luxury — not a routine service but a decision weighed against rent, food, fuel and other essentials.They avoid the dentist not mainly because they fear the drill — although dental anxiety does play a role — but because the system forces them to choose between essential living costs and essential health care. That’s not choice, that’s constraint. As cost-of-living pressures grow and health inequalities widen, ignoring dental care isn’t a cost-saving strategy; it’s a ticking public health time-bomb.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk about our two tiered system that has split Australians into those who can afford routine visits and preventive care to maintain their oral health, and those who are trapped in a cycle of pain, delayed care and costly treatment as a consequence.It’s time we recognised dental health not as a discretionary service but as an integral part of health care worthy of protection, funding, and equality.As a profession we must grapple these issues if we want to build future where all Australians have fair, equitable and affordable access to healthcare. Where prevention is prioritised and valued. And corporate interests and profits – of all sorts – take a back seat to an individuals right to health.Without some reform of our current system, oral health inequities will continue to widen.

Discussion on the future of dentistry invariably converges on advances in technology - whether it is new materials or equipment, or the holy grail of growing a new tooth. Things that are designed to make our lives as dentists easier, simpler, faster or more profitable. And obviously deliver better outcomes to patients.One thing that they tend to have in common is that they perpetuate the treatment focus of dentistry. The future of dentistry is apparently about how we treat dental disease in new and innovative ways. There is no reimagining a completely new future that doesn’t revolve around treating dental disease. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk aboutsome of the issues confronting the dental profession that we must grapple with if we want to build future where all Australians have fair, equitable and affordable access to healthcare. Where prevention is prioritised and valued. And corporate interests and profits – of all sorts – take a back seat to an individuals right to health.

This podcast discusses suicide and topics that some people may find distressing. If this raises any issues for you crisis support services like Lifeline can be reached 24 hours a day on 13 11 14A new paper just published in the Journal of the American Dental Association looked at suicide mortality amongst US dentists between 1979 and 2018. It found that dentists experienced a higher suicide mortality than the general population, and that had increased since 1995.This is a tough topic to discuss, but such an important one, as this recent publication highlights. Dentistry is a stressful profession, and dental practitioners suffer a high burden of psychological distress and mental illness. More broadly, suicide continues to be a significant issue in Australia. Every day nearly nine Australians take their life, and it’s estimated that for every death around 30 people will attempt suicide.When we studied the mental health and wellbeing of Australian dental practitioners at the end of 2021, we found that 1 in 6 reported thoughts of suicide in the previous 12 months, with nearly 1 in 3 saying that they had ever thought about taking their own life, and 5.6% reported having previously made an attempt to take their own life.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I unpack some of the findings of this latest study, compare to some of the findings from our Australian research and discuss some strategies that we can all use to tackle the mental health crisis in the dental profession.First and foremost we need to keep having discussions about mental health and wellbeing, and working to remove the stigma that is associated with mental health.Get in the right frame of mind to ask the question, and make sure you leave time to have the conversation. Be prepared if the answer is ‘I’m not okay’ and make sure you are in the right headspace for this response.Are you ok? How are you going?I just wanted to check in and see how you are going?Listen with compassion and empathy, and without judgement. You don’t have to solve their problem, just focus on helping to understand. Don’t interrupt and be prepared to sit in silence – it’s not easy for somone to answer the question and open up about their struggles. Show empathy and let them know that you have heard them.Ask if there is anything that you can do to support them and if they have been seeking professional help. If not, encourage them to see a doctor or other mental health professional, particularly if they have been experiencing significant struggles for more than two weeks. There are also services like:Lifeline 13 11 14Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636Set a reminder to follow up and see how they are going. Ask if they have sought professional help, and encourage them again if they haven’t.Conversations about mental health can be uncomfortable for everyone. It’s not easy. But it can be life changing. Speaking up is important to save lives. If you’re struggling, it’s also important to speak up and ask for help. It’s not a weakness, it’s a strength.What can we do?Get ReadyAskListenEncourage ActionFollow-up

In 2014 Health Workforce Australia (HWA) released a report on the future oral health workforce. It came amidst claims from the dental profession that we were facing an oversupply of dentists and calls to cap the number of dental schools and domestic dental graduates, as well as removing dentists from the Skilled Occupation List.The HWA report predicted a persistent workforce oversupply until at least 2025, projecting that we would have 19,624 dentists and dental specialists working clinically in Australia.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I drill down into the Health Workforce Australia modelling to see whether their workforce predictions were correct [narrator – they were not], and take a more detailed look at the maldistribution of the dentist workforce over the past decade.Click here for the charts show the change in the number of dentists (including dental specialists) per 100,000 people by Local Government Area, broken down into Major Cities, Inner Regional and Outer Regional that are mentioned in this episode.

Dental caries continues to be one of the most important public health problems in Australia, and particularly for Australian children. One in three children experience tooth decay in their baby teeth by the age of 5-6 years and 40% in their adult teeth by the age of 12-14 year, and it is the leading cause of preventable hospitalisations amongst Australian children. So early detection and prevention are critically important – at both a public health and individual patient level.New research published this week shows potential new applications for 3D intra-oral scanning with fluorescence as a tool to enhance the early detection of tooth decay. It is particularly useful to enable a comprehensive dental assessment for children who are only able to tolerate a brief or limited time in the dental chair, and may have telehealth applications for people living in rural and remote areas.This week on the Dental As Anything podcast I speak to Dr Bree Jones. Bree is a dental academic and researcher at the Melbourne Dental School with expertise spanning public health, diagnostic innovation, education, and sustainability. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Oral Health, Graduate Certificate in Dental Therapy (Advanced Practice), Master of Public Health, and PhD.She is the lead author of this paper which found that on-screen assessment of 3D models in colour showed strong agreement with a standard clinical visual examination for caries detection at different disease thresholds - from early lesions through to more extensive disease. 3D intra oral scanning might be a feasible alternative to traditional in-person clinical examination for research, monitoring and population level surveillance.

Advocacy is an important part of our role in the dental profession, but often feels like a thankless task. I recently spent the day in Canberra courtesy of the Australian Dental Industry Association who hosted a parliamentary roundtable on the dental industry.This week on the Dental As Anything podcast I give you a peak behind the curtains to hopefully gain some insight into what actually happens, how oral health is viewed in Canberra and perhaps why progress isn’t as quick as we would like (but why there is hope on the not too distant horizon).

With recent talk about expanding Medicare to include more dental services, it’s worth revisiting the last time that this was done with the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, which ran from 2008 to 2013. The scheme delivered nearly $2.8 billion in dental treatment, highlighting the value of the scheme in improving access for necessary dental care as well as evidence of pent-up demand. However, the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme became politicised and was controversially brought to a close in 2013 amidst allegations of rorting by dental practitioners and cost blow-outs.Myths about the scheme, particularly the reasons for its closure, persist to this day, making ongoing advocacy efforts to improve access to dental care much more difficult.This week on Dental As Anything I talk to Professor Hans Zoellner, former head of Oral Pathology at the University of Sydney. He formed the Association for the Promotion of Oral Health, a think-tank and advocacy group to improve oral health, and was outspoken in his support for the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme. He has provided evidence to various state and federal parliamentary inquiries and published research on the utilisation of the scheme highlighting how it was functioning to meet an important community need.

Opioid prescribing by Australian dentists has increased over the past decade, although the quantity dispensed has reduced. New research highlights some concerning trends with significant implications.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I speak to Associate Professor Leanne Teoh about her latest study and the implications for the dental profession. Leanne is a pharmacist, practising dentist and academic at the Melbourne Dental School.She has a strong interest in dental prescribing and developed MIMS Drugs 4 Dent as a clinical decision tool for dental practitioners and co-authored Therapeutic Guidelines Oral and Dental Version 2.

We make snap judgements about people based solely on their appearance, and draw negative assumptions about people with visibly poor oral health, contributing to shame, stigma and even bullying.The face is the window to the soul. Our physical appearance,particularly that of our smile, often dictates people’s first impressions of us. And first impressions flow through to behaviours – to how people treat us. And as we know, first impressions are hard to shake. That is why the dentalprofession has been shifting over time from one that has been solely focused on disease and function to one where appearance and aesthetics are key, both responding to and driving patient demand. But what of the people who sufferfrom poor oral health, and who struggle to access dental care?Two recent research papers piqued my interest, one looking at the issue of bullying related to tooth loss in Australian children, and the other an exploration of the issue of dental shame. They get to the heart of this idea that good oral health is fundamental to our appearance and to our self-esteem.We know this is important, because it is almost impossible to hide your dental condition from others during any form of social interaction. It’s why poor oral health is probably one of the most obvious and visible signs of poverty and disadvantage.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcastI talk about the social and psychological impact of poor oral health and the importance of thinking more broadly about the impacts for people who cannot access dental care.References:Does Tooth Loss Lead to School Bullying? Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Australian ChildrenDental Shame: A Call for Understanding and Addressing the Role of Shame in Oral Health

The biggest issue with artificial intelligence isn’t that it makes mistakes, it’s that it has the potential to make mistakes at scale at the same time that people are trusting it to be infallible.Technology usually progresses at a speed that outpaces existing regulation and legislation, and we are then forced to play catch up when the cat is already out of the bag. This is complicated by a tech sector that is becoming increasing powerful and transnational, making regulation more difficult.The proliferation of artificial intelligence tools in healthcare broadly, and in dentistry specifically alongside the propensity of many practitioners to be technological minded early adopters, has the potential to be a gamechanger. But as we know, games can be both won and lost.The Therapeutic Goods Administration recently published a report on regulating medical software devices including artificial intelligence and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare has created resources on the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.We need to understand the capability – and perhaps more importantly the reliability and reproducibility – of the tools that we are using. Ambient AI scribes listen in to a patient consultation to transcribe notes, but they can make mistakes and provide inaccurate or nonsensical outputs. This is an intrinsic characteristic of generative AI tools. They fabricate diagnoses, omit or add steps in treatment plans, and confuse similar words like ‘medication’ and ‘mediation’ or ‘meditation’.AI still struggles with complexity in a way that humans do not. Clinicians have – or at least should have – an ability to understand the nuance in a conversation, which includes interpreting non-verbal cues. Are digital scribes capable of doing that? How often are we checking the accuracy and veracity of the transcription? And if we don’t, what is the possibility of errors finding their way into the clinical record – and what is the potential impact of that?In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk about the issues of regulation of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and the importance for practitioners in understanding not only the potential limitations of AI tools, but also their ethical and legal obligations when using such tools.

A new study has looked at the media coverage and the implications for the dentistry, particularly in terms of societal attitudes towards dental health and the dental profession.The recent trend of dental practices promoting the use of superannuation for dental treatment has become a hot topic issue in the dental profession over the past few years. From $108 million in 2020-21 to $526 million last year, the scale of use in dentistry far exceeds the other areas where superannuation is being withdrawn on compassionate grounds.Now, a new study Supercharged Smiles: A Discourse Analysis of Australian Media Coverage of Funding Dental Care Through Superannuation published in the Australian Dental Journal has looked at how the media has reported this phenomenon. Professor Alex Holden from the University of Sydney examined 36 media articles written by 25 different authors across 18 media platforms published between 2022 to 2025. Across all the media articles that were reviewed, there was a predominantly negative discourse which highlights the ethical, social, and professional challenges that early superannuation release presents to dentists, patients and the broader community, as well as policy makers.At the top level, there were three main themes that emerged from the 36 articles. The first was one of outrage at the necessity that patients were forced to use their retirement savings to pay for essential dental care, the second was about the exploitation of vulnerable patients by some dentists and the final theme was about abuse of the system by patients and dentists for elective and cosmetic dental treatment, when the guidelines are pretty clear about the criteria for use.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk about this new study and the narrative that has emerged about this scheme, and the importance of the dental profession in taking an active stand on this issue.

How much did you pay for your dental degree? Were you one of the lucky ones who received a free education? Did you come in during the early days of student fees in the early 1990s when $10,000 was enough to cover the tuition fees for dental school? Or are you a recent graduate or current student at a graduate entry school in a full fee paying place, paying more than $80,000 per year for your dental degree, on top of the twenty odd thousand dollars you paid for your undergraduate degree?As the cost of a dental degree at some Australian universities passes $400,000, there are clearly implications for potential students, graduates and the broader community.This week on the Dental As Anything podcast I talk about the burgeoning cost of dental education, and the implications for both graduates and the broader community.

What does the Australian constitution say about the powers of the Commonwealth to provide dental services and what impact might that have on the dental profession in the context of expanding Medicare?Medicare and dentistry is in the news again now that the new Commonwealth parliament has commenced, with the Greens vowing to use their balance of power in the Senate to pressure the government to add dental care into Medicare.One of the common concerns from dentists about Medicare funded dentistry is the impact on their earnings and the profitability of their business due to low rebates. It is also invariably linked to the spectre of NHS-style dentistry and the deterioration of clinical outcomes for patients. There are assumptions about the power and reach of the government to control the dental profession if Medicare is expanded to include some dental services.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast, I discuss the history of the amendment to the Australian constitution which gave the Commonwealth the power to legislate for the provision of medical and dental services, and what the civil conscription clause means in the context of options for reform of public dental funding.Section 51xxiiiA: The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: the provision of maternity allowances, widows’ pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorize any form of civil conscription), benefits to students and family allowances.

Dentistry is a $12 billion a year industry and growing, making it a valuable target for private equity investment. But what are the implications for patients when others seek to profit from healthcare?A recent article in the Australian Financial Review reported large dental chain Dental Boutique had appointed Morgan Stanley and Gilbert + Tobin to sell their business. It is part of a growing trend both here in Australia and internationally for the consolidation and corporatisation of healthcare businesses, and in particular for private equity funds to buy into healthcare.But is raises some important questions about whether this is a good thing, and who profits from healthcare?A recent scoping review on the role of private equity in health found that there were both positive and negative impacts on health outcomes, staffing and costs, but importantly found no evidence of consistently positive effects of private equity in health.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast, I explore the issue of private equity investment in the dental industry, noting trends in dentistry from the USA (where 1 in 8 dentists are now associated with private equity) and trends in the medical profession in Australia.

Trust is essential to the normal function of society, yet it is perhaps not something that we spend a lot of time thinking about until it’s gone. Long term data on trusted professions shows that dentists rank in the top 5 – behind nurses, doctors, pharmacists and teachers, although trust has been declining since peaking in 2017.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast, we discuss the important issue of trust - what it is, why it’s important and why we are seeing a gradual erosion of trust - in individuals and institutions. Rebuilding trust requires accountability, high standards of honesty and integrity, openness and transparency and most importantly good communication. Ultimately, building and maintaining trust is important for everyone, and therefore is everyone’s responsibility.

In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I talk about our new paper Oral Health Meets Commercial Determinants: An Opportunity to Bridge Individual and Structural Approaches published this week in the Australian Dental Journal with colleagues from the University of Sydney and Deakin University. We highlight the role of structural and commercial factors, operating outside an individual's control, that drive the high prevalence of oral disease and inequities at a population level, and argue that dental practitioners must also consider the broader commercial forces which contribute to oral disease in order to make meaningful steps in reducing inequities in the burden of oral diseases.

New guidelines on cosmetic procedures and a statement on the use of superannuation for dental treatment have again shone the light on ethical conduct and the tension between business and healthcare.In the past week Ahpra has released two guidelines and a joint statement with the Dental and Medical boards which highlight some ethical challenges facing the dental profession. They come off the back of a series of stories, and no doubt complaints and notifications, regarding cosmetic procedures and the compassionate release of superannuation.In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I talk the new Ahpra guidelines on cosmetic procedures and the implications for dental practitioners, and our role more broadly in upholding ethical standards to maintain trust in the profession.

What do we do when a dental practitioner breaks the trust of patients? Should we discuss that within the profession? What happens when those cases are picked up by the media and talked about in the public sphere? Should we engage in the discussion or try and shut it down.In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I talk about the vexed issue of the early release of superannuation, over-servicing, the role of the media in reporting stories of interest, and how the dental profession should respond.

Health is inherently political . Like any resource or commodity in our neo-liberal economic system, some social groups have more of it than others. We also know that the social and commercial determinants of health – more than just individual behaviours – are amendable to political interventions.In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I talk about the history of expanding Medicare to include more dental services, the broader support and advocacy for schemes such as Senior Dental Benefits Scheme and the important role of research in supporting advocacy efforts.References:Australian dental practitioner attitudes to expanding Medicare to include more dental services World Dental Federation. Universal Health Coverage - Oral Health for All (Fact Sheet)What is universal health coverage?

We often talk about the pros and cons of water fluoridation through the lens of benefits versus the risk of harm. But it's also important to understand the broader public health ethical considerations.Last month, Utah became the first state in the USA to ban fluoride in public drinking water and just last week a local mayor in Florida vetoed a county decision to remove fluoride, pushing back a little against a vote that seemed more about politics than health. In Australia we recently saw Cook Shire Council in far north Queensland also vote to cease water fluoridation.What we are seeing is a distortion of public health ethics – allowing a small number of fellow citizens to impose a disadvantage on the community at large for the sake of protecting their individual autonomy.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we explore some of the ethical principles that underpin public health measures, moving beyond beneficence and non-maleficence to consider how we balance individual autonomy with the broader public good, and the role of justice.

In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk to Dr Brooke Nickel, an NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow at the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Brooke is an expert in evidence-based healthcare communication and decision making, with a particular focus on the issue of overdiagnosis. She recently led a study reporting on how social media posts have the ability to influence over-diagnosis.We talk about the importance of health literacy, how social media and influencers are shaping patient behaviours and our role in fighting back against misinformation in the public domain.

Medicare is meant to help all Australians access affordable healthcare guaranteeing them access to a wide range of health and hospital services at low or no cost. Except if you have a dental problem.Today is World Oral Health Day, a chance for the dental profession to steal the spotlight for 24 hours and shine a light on the importance of oral health. I’m using it to call for a seismic shift that is needed in Australia to make access to dental care more affordable by launching the Give Medicare Teeth campaign in the lead up to the federal election. It is important that we don’t let dental care continue to be the forgotten issue yet again.You can go to the campaign website for more information and use it to send an auto-generated email to your candidates in the upcoming election, or engage with them on social media.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we explore the concept of universal health coverage and the need to reform dental funding in Australia.

Dentists. What makes us tick? For many people, a trip to the dentist at the top of the list of things they would prefer not to do. Makes you wonder why anyone would decide to be a dentist at all.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we talk to dentist and author Max Lee about his new book ‘Why am I a dentist? A search for clarity and meaning.’ Max is a general practitioner who works in private practice in Victoria, having previously spent time working as a dentist in Singapore. Max reflects on his journey from dental school to a new graduate dentist in a foreign country, and highlights some of challenging experiences and darker periods in his career, and how that has shaped the person - and health professional - that he is today.The book is available at Amazon, Booktopia and other online retailers.

Why is it so hard for the more than 1 in 4 Australians who live outside of capital and major cities to access dental care? And how much is that a factor that contributes to the higher burden of disease we see in regional and rural communities?In 2023, 74.3% of the population lived in major cities across Australia, and dentists disproportionately work in these areas. That means for one quarter of the population, access to dental care - both treatment and importantly prevention - is compromised.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we explore some of the factors that contribute to this maldistribution and look at some of the solutions that have been tried to address this.

How do we know if we are suffering from main character syndrome? Or even have strong narcissistic tendencies. And what impact might that have on the provision of patient care? Main character syndrome. We’ve all experienced it, even if you’ve never heard the term before. You’re driving to work when another driver – completely oblivious to the traffic around them – casually merges into your lane without indicating, causing you to brake suddenly to avoid an accident. Entitled. Selfish. Have you ever wondered though how much you are the main character in the soap opera of your life? Main character syndrome is the tendency to view your life as a story where you play the central role. Your views and opinions, your actions define the narrative arc of that story. You are central to the plot, relegating your friends and family to mere supporting roles – or worse, as simply extras – to be seen but not heard. It sounds extreme. But it’s a real phenomenon. According to Dr Shaun Sellers, ‘When a dentist falls into this mindset, they might see themselves as the ‘hero' of every patient's story. They may focus more on how they will be seen by their peers and the industry rather than listening deeply to what patients want or need. A dentist could start making decisions based on what they believe is best for their image, rather than considering the patient's personal preferences or anxieties.’ In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we explore main character syndrome, spotlight bias and narcissism in the context of health professionals and the provision of patient care.

One in every six women in Australia experiences physical or sexual violence before the age of sixteen. In 2022, 64% of reported assaults to WA Police were family violence-related. We know that family violence has a significant impact on the health, inclusion, confidence, dignity and financial independence of women. Healing Smiles is a group of volunteer dentists who provide pro bono dental treatment to help restore the smiles of survivors of domestic violence. In this episode of Dental As Anything we talk to oral medicine specialist Jacinta Vu about her work with Healing Smiles. She did her dental training in Perth and then specialist training in Sydney, and works in private practice and as a consultant at the Perth Children’s Hospital, as well as having a teaching role at the University of Western Australia. She helped to found Healing Smiles, a group of volunteer dentists who provide pro bono dental treatment to help restore the smiles of survivors of domestic violence. She has just been formally recognised for her work as the Western Australian Local Hero in the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards. If you would like to volunteer or donate to Healing Smiles, you can find out more information here.

Australian dentists write around 70,000 prescriptions for antibiotics each month. And medical practitioners are also prescribing antibiotics for dental problems. But how many of those prescriptions are actually necessary, and are we contributing to antimicrobial resistance. This week is World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote best practices to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections. Antimicrobial resistance is already affecting the care of patients, and current trends indicate AMR will have an increasing impact over time. The World Health Organisation has described AMR as one of the greatest threats to human and animal health, as well as food and agriculture. Each year, hundreds of people die in Australia as a result of antimicrobial resistance.  “If we use antibiotics when not needed, we may not have them when they are most needed.”  -Tom Frieden, MD, Former Director U.S. CDC Antibiotics prescribed by dentists account for a significant 10 per cent of all antibiotics prescribed worldwide, but up to 55 per cent of those antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily by dentists in Australia. In this episode of Dental As Anything we talk to dentist and pharmacist Leanne Teoh about the issues of antimicrobial resistance and prescribing. Leanne works both clinically as a dentist and also as a researcher at the Melbourne Dental School. In collaboration with MIMS Australia she has commercialised the first clinical decision medicines tool for dental practitioners in Australia, called MIMS Drugs4dent®, and she has co-authored the Australian national dental guidelines, Therapeutic Guidelines Oral and Dental Version 2. Further Resources FDI World Dental Federation white paper ‘The essential role of the dental team in reducing antibiotic resistance’ FDI World Dental Federation MOOC - Tackling Antibiotic Resistance: What Should Dental Teams Do?

During the US presidential election campaign, Robert Kennedy Junior tweeted that a Trump White House would advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water supplies. Trump has previously indicated that Kennedy would likely have an influential health role in his administration. Now that the election outcome is clear, should the dental profession be concerned about this threat to water fluoridation? Already we have seen two Australian politicians – LNP Senator Matt Canavan and UAP Senator Ralph Babet make statements questioning water fluoridation. Babet went so far as to say that he would ban fluoride from all water supplies in Australia if he was ever in a position of power. This rhetoric emboldens those who campaign to remove or prevent water fluoridation, and we have previously seen the impacts with many communities pressuring local councils to cease water fluoridation. In Canavan’s home state of Queensland, 50% of teenagers have tooth decay, much higher than the national average of 38%. Moves to further reduce access to water fluoridation will see tooth decay rates increase, and this will be disproportionately felt in vulnerable and disadvantaged community groups. We have previously discussed safety concerns related particularly to cognitive impairment, and the problematic National Toxicology Report into water fluoridation. It’s although worth revisiting the NHMRC review of water fluoridation, which ‘strongly recommends community water fluoridation as a safe, effective and ethical way to help reduce tooth decay across the population.’  This review concluded that there is reliable evidence that community water fluoridation at current Australian levels is not associated with cancer, Down syndrome, cognitive dysfunction, lowered intelligence or hip fracture.   In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we look at the history and evidence of water fluoridation, and discuss the risk to public dental health if opponents are emboldened by events in the United States.

New data from the Australian Institute of health and Welfare has highlighted that there has been an increase in the number of preventable hospital admissions as a result of dental problems over the past year, and the highest rate was amongst children aged 5-9 years. Yet paediatric dentists are having their access to general anaesthetic lists cut because they are no longer profitable for hospitals. The current system of funding hospital activity does not reflect the complexity and duration of paediatric dental procedures. Private hospitals will receive around $900 for a dental procedure, regardless of the length of time, but it costs about $1500 per hour to provide that hospital service. In this episode of Dental As Anything we talk to paediatric dental specialist Tim Keys about the crisis in paediatric dentistry. The issues with access to general anaesthetic services are longstanding, and should be of concern to everyone in the dental profession, because it points to the broader lack of priority that governments place on oral health.

How much sugary drinks do you consume? Is it more or less than the average Australian? And do you know the harm that it’s doing – not just to your dental health, but to your overall health as well. In Australia, teenagers are consuming 60 grams (15 teaspoons) of added sugar per day, with 1 in 6 consuming more than 130 grams (33 teaspoons). That is well in excess of the upper limit of 24 grams (6 teaspoons) per day that the evidence says is necessary to minimise the risk of tooth decay. Around one third of that added sugar is coming from sugary drinks, which otherwise have little or no nutritional value. The beverage and sugar industry in Australia strongly oppose any regulations such as a sugary drinks tax, claiming on one hand that it won’t make a difference to health but also that it would be detrimental to their respective industries. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we look at the evidence linking sugar to tooth decay and the effectiveness of sugary drinks taxes, and the role of the sugar and beverage industries in opposing measures that might harm their profits.

Knowing and understanding the history of colonisation in Australia is important to tackling the gap in oral health that persists in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Patrick Mercer. Pat is a Wadawurrung Kulin man with family connections to Ballarat and Melbourne in Victoria. He currently works as a Lecturer in First Nations Health at the Melbourne Dental School and as a tutor within the Wurru Wurru First Nations Health team at the School of Medical Education at Melbourne University. We discuss the importance of understanding our history and the role of the built environment in both perpetuating the impacts of colonisation but also in providing an opportunity to tell a different story, particularly in the form of statues and building names. Understanding this history is particularly relevant given that the Australian Dental Council competencies for newly graduating dental practitioners includes the requirement to acknowledge colonisation and systemic racism; address individual racism and biases; foster a safe working environment; and provide culturally safe care to diverse groups and populations.

Are you a Luddite? Do you know the origins of the term? It might surprise you to know that the original Luddites opposed the automation of textiles and weaving jobs during the industrial revolution. They weren’t opposed to the technology as much as they were concerned about the impact on their jobs. And they foresaw the disruption that has rippled through many industries since then, as automation has taken jobs and made them redundant. Do we have anything to fear in the dental profession? There was a recent announcement that US company Perceptive has developed an AI-controlled autonomous robot performing an entire clinical procedure on a human patient. You can watch the video here. What does this mean for the future of dentistry? This week on Dental As Anything, Matt discusses some of the history of technological disruption, emerging technologies in dentistry and the future under our new robot overlords.

Does your boss contact you after hours asking you to complete tasks? Or are you the boss always texting your employees to get additional work done? New laws have come into effect across Australia now to protect the rights of workers to disconnect from work and switch off in their own time. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we look at the history of ‘right to disconnect’ laws, the influence of the industrial revolution and the importance for both employees and employers in ensuring that they understand the new changes.

Are Health Stars making us healthier? That’s the intent behind those little star ratings that you find on food and drinks in the supermarket and convenience stores. The Health Star Rating system was introduced as a voluntary scheme in 2014 to try and tackle a slew of diet related diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So it’s worth reflecting on whether they are actually meeting their objective or not, 10 years down the track. And if not – then why, what are we doing wrong, and what do we need to do to fix it? In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Dr Alexandra Jones from the Georges Institute about food and health policy, its role in improving health outcomes and the tension between good policy and accusations of a nanny state.

What can we – as dental practitioners and advocates – really do to tackle the social and commercial determinants of health? And is it even our role to do so. In the previous episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I argued that poor oral health was as much a social issue as it was a dental issue. In this episode we explore some of these social issues, focusing on poverty and income equality, and look at the impact of unconditional cash transfers in improving health and wellbeing.

Is poor oral health a dental issue or a social issue? Is the solution to reducing increasing rates of tooth decay and periodontal disease found within the four walls of the dental clinic, or is there a need to step back and consider this as a social problem as well? In this episode of Dental As Anything, I talk about the inverse care law, how that plays out in the maldistribution of the oral health workforce, and the important role dental practitioners have in tackling the social causes of dental disease.

Artificial intelligence tools are expanding into all areas of health practice, and clinical notes provide an opportunity for efficiencies - but it's important to be aware of the risks. In this episode I speak to Bree Jones from Melbourne University about the use of artificial intelligence in writing health records. What does it mean to summarise information? How accurate will that AI summary mean? Do you know the best way to ask the right questions to ensure the most accurate summary - a skill known as prompt engineering. Is there a risk of bias in the way that AI tools interpret information? And importantly, what are some of the legal ramifications. If you are considering using AI tools to assist with your clinical notes (or you are already doing so), then this is a must listen episode.

You wouldn't invest in tobacco companies, but would you invest in fast food and sugary drinks, knowing the harms they cause? In this episode of Dental As Anything I pose the question of whether health practitioners should invest in companies that cause harm and contribute to the stream of patients coming through our doors. Should making greater investment returns come at the expense of public health? Does this blur the lines between our personal and professional identities?

There are many parallels between the pressure cooker environment of the MasterChef kitchen and a dental practice. So it shouldn't be surprising that there are valuable lessons that could be useful. Although it’s been nearly 10 years since I was on the show, it sometimes feels like it was just yesterday. I often reflect on the experiences over that 5 month period – because the more I look back, the more I realise how much the lessons from the MasterChef kitchen have helped to influence and shape who I am today. In this episode of Dental As Anything, I share some of the life lessons that I learned on the show that I have found to be particularly valuable.

The somewhat controversial issue of tongue ties hit the media last week, with a newspaper article highlighting some harrowing patient stories and the boom in popularity of the tongue tie release procedure. In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Dr Mihiri Silva about diagnosis and management of tongue ties. Mihiri is a specialist paediatric dentist who is a Senior Lecturer at the Melbourne Dental School, a Clinician-Scientist Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Consultant Paediatric Dentist and the Research Lead for the Department of Dentistry at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She also lead the Australian Dental Association’s position statement on tongue ties and ankyloglossia, and is eminently qualified to talk to about this issue.

In a span of only 30 years, the cost of a dental education has gone from zero to anywhere from $60,000 to $430,000. With inflation running hot over the past few years, many graduates are seeing their debt increasing. Fortunately a recent budget decision will provide some relief for those with an outstanding student debt. This week Matt discusses these recent changes to HECS indexation, the need for further reform and the impact of increasing student debt on the dental profession.

Dental personnel have a long history of ensuring that the members of our Army, Navy and Air Force have good oral health. ANZAC Day is an opportunity to reflect on their service. In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Dr Amanda Leen about her experiences as a dentist in the Royal Australian Army Dental Corps. Amanda joined the Army as an undergraduate dental student, and served as a dental officer at 1 Brigade in Darwin and 1 Health Support Battalion in Holsworthy. She is now an orthodontist practising in Geelong.

Being a competent dental practitioner is about much more than just surgical skills, and it is important that we focus more broadly on our role as physicians of the mouth. Dental education, like any form of education, is a beginning and not an end. It starts the journey, equipping graduates with knowledge and skills that can then be built on, and indeed must be built on, over time. It also equips them to adapt as the profession changes and adapts. This week Matt talks about the issues of dental education, professional identity and what it means to be a dentist.

There have been many dire predictions of an oversupply of dentists over the past decade, but do we in fact have too many dentists? Let's find out in this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast, where Matt discusses the issues of workforce supply and demand. This is particularly relevant as advocacy ramps up in the push to increase government funding for dental programs such as a Senior Dental Benefits Scheme.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms will play an increasingly important role in dental practice, and there is no escaping that inevitability. But it is not without risk. Alongside efficiencies in the way that dentistry is practised, there are concerns about over-diagnosing, data security and privacy, the use by third parties and direct-to-consumer applications, and on the wellbeing of dental practitioners. This week Matt is again joined by Dr Max Ganhewa to discuss some of these ethical issues that impact on how artificial intelligence will be used in dentistry.

Is artificial intelligence going to change the way you practise dentistry? According to this week’s guest Dr Max Ganhewa, the answer is a resounding yes. Machine learning algorithms are able to detect dental caries and periodontal disease by assessing radiographs.There is an opportunity to improve treatment decisions too, and this information might help guide patients to assess options as part of the informed consent process. And artificial intelligence could simplify the process of creating dental record entries and automate some of the back office business process in a dental practice. In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Dr Max Ganhewa, co-founder of CoTreatAI to discuss how artificial intelligence is currently being used, where it might offer advantages, and some of the pitfalls to be aware of.

This week Matt is joined by Dr Tim Keys, a specialist paediatric dentist whose research looked at clinical caries management. When do we make a decision to intervene restoratively? And perhaps more importantly, how do we make that decision? Is there a gap between the evidence and how clinicians actually practice? In a thought provoking episode, Tim challenges us to explore the current evidence and consider a more preventive approach.

This week Matt talks about public funding in the context of dental service provision across both the public and private sectors. Did you know that $1 in every $5 spent on dental care in Australia comes from the public purse? With the possibility of reform coming off the back of a Senate inquiry into dental services, it’s important for all dental practitioners to be aware of the reasons that change might be coming.

This week Matt Hopcraft is joined by Dr Jodie Heap, a clinical dentist and social theorist to talk about ethics and professionalism. Where do our ethics come from, and does it matter? Is it enough that we focus on ‘doing no harm,’ or is there more to being a health professional? And are our ethics fixed and immutable, or are they at risk of changing? Jodie explores these issues and more during this episode.