Some progress has been made in reducing waiting times, but there are still large numbers who are waiting an average of 2 years for treatment, with many rural patients waiting 4 to 5 years! The average waiting time across all public dental clinics as at December 2007 was 22.79 months, which exceeds the 22 months projected in the State Budget 2007/08.  This also represents a reduction of only about two weeks from the average waiting time as at June 2007 (23.38 months).  This remains unacceptably high.

While emergency cases are usually seen within 24 - 48 hours, general dental care should be available in less than 12 months. The consequence of these extended delays is that treatment needs that could be addressed by simple restorative measures become much more complex, or worse, become so extreme, that extraction or hospitalisation is required.

At the current rate of improvement of around 1 month per annum, it will be another 10 years before average waiting times have been reduced to 12 months.

Over half the rural clinics experienced worse results, with18 suffering an average deterioration of 4.61 months between June and December 2007. Of the 58 clinics for which data is available as at December 2007, 16 had improved waiting times for access to general dental care (averaging 5.81 months reduction), while 30 had worse (with an average 3.67 months deterioration). 
Take Action Now! - Contact the Minister for Health