Millions of Australians live with a disability, yet a costly private dental system is leaving thousands languishing on public waitlists while those who can afford to go private struggle to find someone who will treat them.
"I've only seen dentists when I had a toothache. I've never had a regular dentist, like you have a regular doctor," the 37-year-old says.Accessing dental care has always been a battle involving lengthy public dental waitlists and, at times, desperate calls to his contacts in the disability sector.
In a 2018 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey, almost a third of people with disabilities reported delaying or skipping a dentist visit due to cost. Dr Lim treats patients with disabilities in his work in the private and public system, including at several Melbourne hospitals."They struggle to get the care they need, they're completely lost and often come into a crisis situation."Many people like Mr Bloomfield have no choice but to rely on the public system, sometimes waiting years while being shuffled across various public waitlists.
When those patients eventually reach Dr Lim, they need on average 10 to 15 teeth removed, an outcome that in itself creates severe disability. While many could be treated by a general dentist, they can struggle to find one happy to treat them, rather than referring them to a specialist. The 19-year-old is at a high risk of aspiration pneumonia, which already put her in hospital as a child and is a leading cause of premature death for people with disability in Australia.
"The transition nurse made it quite clear the dental hospital had a really large waiting list. It was many years, we were told there was just about no point" Ms Haysom-Brown says. The training aims to give practitioners the skills and support, so they can treat people with disabilities with confidence.
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