FED:Dental scheme urgent: Brotherhood

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2011
FED:Dental scheme urgent: Brotherhood

An anti-poverty group says the cost of dental care in Australia is costing the national
economy more than 1.3 billion dollars in lost employment.

A new report says at least one million work days and at least 600 thousand school days
are lost each year because of poor dental health.

Brotherhood of St Laurence executive director TONY NICHOLSON says the cost of poor
dental health is borne by people at least able to afford it.

The report says adults on the lowest incomes are almost 60 times more likely to have
no teeth than those on the highest incomes and indigenous people are twice as likely to
have untreated decay in comparison to non-indigenous people.

AAP RTV ah/wf

KEYWORD: DENTAL (CANBERRA)

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