Poor Australians have fewer teeth: report

A new report shows public dental patients in Australia suffer poorer oral health than the rest of the population.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report found people from low socio-economic backgrounds face more barriers in gaining access to dental services.

It also found public dental patients had fewer teeth on average than those with private health cover.

David Brennan from the University of Adelaide says a recent Federal Government initiative will hopefully go some way in closing the gap.

"What we've seen recently is the reintroduction of a Commonwealth dental health program where the Australian Government contributes extra funding to the states and territories over the next three years to fund extra dental visits," he said.

"So there actually is sort of a program being put into place that will put more resources into the public dental sector."

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