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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 49(1)

Mapping essential oral healthcare for the Australian context

Tan Minh Nguyen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9986-7629 A B C * , Clare Lin B , Martin Hall D and Hanny Calache B E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Dental Health Services Victoria, Level 1, Corporate Services, 720 Swanston Street, Carlton, Vic 3053, Australia.

B Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University Level 3, Building BC, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic 3125, Australia.

C Health Economics Group, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Level 4, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Vic 3004, Australia.

D Seychelles’ Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 52, Victoria, Seychelles.

E La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Edwards Road, Flora Hill, Vic 3550, Australia.

* Correspondence to: tan.nguyen@deakin.edu.au

Australian Health Review 49, AH24298 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH24298
Submitted: 25 October 2024  Accepted: 19 December 2024  Published: 13 January 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA.

Abstract

Australia’s universal healthcare scheme, Medicare, has largely excluded oral healthcare resulting in inequitable access to affordable, essential oral healthcare. To achieve inclusion of oral health within Australia’s universal healthcare scheme, it is necessary to identify and define the dental services that constitute essential oral healthcare. This perspective paper explores how essential oral healthcare should be considered for the Australian context and to align with the World Health Organization’s approach to universal health coverage that includes oral health.

Keywords: cost effectiveness, dental care, dentists, health insurance, health professions, non-communicable diseases, oral healthcare, primary healthcare, universal healthcare.

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