The Report of the NSW Oral Health Alliance was launched today at NSW Parliament House.

Prepared on behalf of the NSW Oral Health Alliance, the data presented throughout the Report points to a public dental system under stress - just under half of those people who had attended a public dental service in the last ten years received emergency treatment; one in four survey respondents indicated they had been on NSW public dental waiting lists for longer than two years, with three in five currently waiting longer than six months; while over 70 per cent of survey respondents felt their oral health had deteriorated during the time they had been on a public dental waiting list.

Based on survey responses from 750 respondents, the Report points to three significant barriers to maintaining adequate oral health for low income and disadvantaged groups in the community: waiting times, cost and difficulty accessing dental services. Speakers included:

• The Hon. John Della Bosca MLC, Minister for Health
• Jillian Skinner MP, Shadow Minister for Health
• Lee Rhiannon, Greens MLC
• Richard Torbay, Independant member for Northern Tablelands, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
• Dr Tony Burges, President ADA NSW,
• Alison Peters, NCOSS Director, and
• James, who spoke about his experiences with NSW’s dental system.

The report is available for download from the NCOSS website - click here .