Is Oral Health A Fundamental Human Right?

Strangely, we live at a time when there are a few gaping holes in important things. Is oral health a fundamental human right? Because it seems that our teeth and gums get missed from the big picture of universal health insurance coverage. Dental care got put in the too hard basket, it seems. Too pricey. Perhaps, teeth, back in the dark old days of 1974 were hardly seen, being inside the mouth. Unlike today, where dental marketing is heavily based on the prominent smile. We live in a world where sugary foods and complex carbohydrates dance on the graves of our rotten teeth, especially among poorer older Australians.

The Global Dietary Catastrophe & Poor Oral Health

Around the world, there are scourges of ill health from things like Type 2 Diabetes and cancers. Gum disease adversely affects globally around a billion human beings. Poor diets full of refined sugars and complex carbs are directly involved in the prevalence of these diseases. Along with heart disease and rising rates of dementia.

“Most oral diseases and conditions share modifiable risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and an unhealthy diet high in free sugars that are common to other NCDs including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. In addition, diabetes has been linked in a reciprocal way with the development and progression of periodontal disease. There is also a causal link between the high consumption of sugar and diabetes, obesity and dental caries. “
– WHO International

Inequality, Expensive Oral Care & Allusive Submarines

How long are we going to put up with a state of affairs where oral health is not a fundamental human right? Are we going to continue to have American billionaires worth hundreds of billions of dollars whilst hundreds of millions of people suffer? Are white folk going to continue to celebrate their extreme wealth at the expense of brown skinned people getting the bum’s rush? In Australia, dental care is very expensive and we enjoy a high standard of dentistry on this basis. However, many Australians cannot afford to get dental care because of the cost of living crisis and the steep costs of a privatised oral care sector. Meanwhile, the fear of the Chinese bogeyman allows our federal government to commit to spending $368 billion on nuclear powered submarines which will likely never eventuate. This is the outlandish nature of where we find ourselves in 2025.

The Economics Of Dental Care Downunder

Economics is the name of the game, right? Most of us bow down to the supreme status of the economic argument. Things like dental care are expensive because of economic factors like the high cost of the materials and technology involved. Plus, dentists train for quite a few years and commercial real estate is far from cheap as well.

The federal government has long held the position that they are unwilling to subsidise dental care for adults in Australia, unlike Medicare for every other part of the human body. Does anyone else see the illogicality of this?

Despite the irrational basis of this, we are still told you get what you pay for.

For instance, the discovery of  paedophiles operating within the privatised child care system are a result of the long term very low wages in this sector and the resultant shortage of quality staff.

Strange how Aussies are willing to put at risk the safety and wellbeing of their vulnerable children via a system where they know that those looking after their kids are poorly paid.

Similarly, the same situation exists in aged care where private operators will not employ enough qualified staff like registered nurses.

The outcome has been a high number of avoidable deaths and instances of inhumane treatment of elderly patients and residents.

This is not a novel occurrence, in the ancient world in Greece and the Roman Empire well to do citizens would employ slaves to educate their children and prepare the household meals.

It seems we are content to expose our nearest and dearest to potentially rogue elements on this basis of economics and saving a buck or two.

A Fair Suck Of The Sav

Is oral health currently a human right? Only if you can afford it. The Social Darwinism going on over in America is a mass disruption of the insecure, the sick and the elderly. Trump’s big bill slashes trillions from social welfare programs and provides a tax cut of trillions for the rich in a massive transfer of wealth over the next decade. It has been estimated that it will risk the lives of some 50,000 Americans a year. In Australia, the rich have been using Coalition superannuation laws to hide wealth from the taxman. Superannuation is, and was supposed to be, a partially self-funded retirement scheme to take pressure off the old age pension. It was never intended to be a bolthole for the wealthy to hide money and assets to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

“To help finance tax cuts elsewhere, Republicans have added additional restrictions to Medicaid, the healthcare programme relied upon by millions of disabled and low-income Americans.”
– BBC.com

The Dental Care Dilemma Downunder

The private health insurance model is predicated on citizens being able to afford to take out their own cover for things like dental care. If Australians are paying such a large proportion of their weekly income on rent, energy and food, then it makes it tough to pay more for this. Inflation has finally been reduced to the 2-3% RBA band, but remember nothing has gone down in price. The rampant price increases of the last 4 years are still there and the cost of living in Australia is still prohibitively expensive.

“A new report by from campaign group Everybody’s Home has found that middle-to-high income earners are facing rental stress.

It said a single person needed a $130,000 income to comfortably afford the national weekly asking rent for a typical unit.”

– ABC.net.au

Living In An Unjust Australia

We live in a world where it is fair game to encourage vulnerable kids to eat and drink sugary products. To advertise fast foods, snacks and soft drinks via bright colours and pop music to impressionable youngsters. At the same time, the government will not include dental care for adults in Medicare. So, it is open slather for selling unhealthy stuff but the state washes its hands regarding oral health for its citizenry. Older Australians are suffering with their teeth and have been for many years now, but deaf ears from the government prevails. Gum disease is rampant here and right around the world, where poverty and lack of access to affordable dental care proliferates. We are living in an unjust Australia, which is only getting worse. Is oral health a fundamental human right? Evidently not.

Disclaimer: Information provided is general in nature. Individual circumstances vary. Please book a consultation for personalised advice.

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