AUSTRALIAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION INC.
Robert JF Butler
Executive Director
21 April 1997
The Australian Dental Association wishes to make a submission regarding Higher Education Funding and Policy as it affects the Faculties of Universities.
The support of Dental Faculties is essential in order to maintain a competent dental workforce for the provision of services to the Australian community. We are fortunate in Australia to have five Dental Faculties whose experts, and quality of training, is regarded at the highest level throughout the world. The competency of these Faculties has been reviewed by external bodies such as the General Dental Council of Great Britain in the past, while this accreditation is now carried out by the Australian Dental Council. All Faculties were accredited in 1996.
The funding of Dental Faculties is currently in a very critical phase. Clinical facilities require constant upgrading and there is a serious shortfall in the funding available for employment of the required teaching staff, despite the honorary contributions of a number of leaders in the profession. It is the view of the Australian Dental Association that present levels of funding must be enhanced in order to maintain education levels needed by the community.
The Dental Faculties have shown their commitment to recognition of the community needs in necessary revision of curricula. Changes in oral health needs have been accommodated and the graduates of today are well equipped for these changes.
Dentists remain the prime providers of dental care and exercise a legal requirement for supervision of para-dental personnel. The nature of dental practice requires University training in the physical and medical sciences. The requirements for clinical training are exercised through the teaching hospitals where a blending of University and Health Department support is required. Significant services are provided by senior dental undergraduates in these teaching hospitals and these students are an important element of the health workforce.
Adequate funding of Higher Education in Dentistry and the accompanying research needs is of paramount importance. There is no doubt that this financing is inadequate at the presnt time. The sharing of the cost of this dental education between the Universities, via Federal funding, and the State funding through Health Departments, is necessary and must be recognised. At the present time, facilities are struggling to maintain adequate staffing and these needs must be addressed as a matter of urgency. A provisional level of cost saving by dental research has been well documented in the USA. The focus on prevention of dental disease makes considerable savings, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. University funding for dental research is virtually non existent and is required to supplement the funding available through the NHMRC and the Australian Dental Research Foundation.
It is requested that your Committee pay diligent consideration to these difficulties being faced by the Dental Faculties in Australia today, as outlined in this submission.