Dentists want big increase in subsidy

Press, 20 February 1980, Page 20

Dentists want big increase in subsidy

Dentists will ask the Government next month for a big increase in the social security assistance which provides free dental treatment for children aged under 18.

An increase of about 8.5 per cent was sought last April, but it was rejected by the Government. The Dental Association estimated last September that an increase of 20 per cent would be needed to raise the social security assistance to a level where it met costs.

The association’s submission this year is likely to be higher than the September estimate. A spokesman for the association said in Christchurch that the present social security rates were based on expenses incurred by practices in September, 1978. An increase was necessary to meet rises in wage rates, equipment costs, materials and office expenses in the last 18 months. Dentists felt every devaluation Of the New Zealand currency as almost all equipment and materials were produced overseas. The present “rolling devaluation” continued to push up these prices. “Very few items used in dental practices are produced in New Zealand. .Paper towels are about the only one I can remember,” he said. The rising cost of silver had pushed up the price of X-ray film 50 per cent last - December, while the cost of fillings would rise with the increased value of gold and silver, which are still regarded as ideal materials for fillings. Silver is used in amalgam as an alloy with tin and mercury,

However, materials formed only 17 per cent of a practice’s total expenses. Wages were the biggest expense, about 37 per cent of total costs. The spokesman said that dentists had to meet the 15 per cent increases in wages recently won by dental nurses.

“This is an aspect that so many patients do not appreciate. They think that ever dollar they pay goes into our pockets. Many do not realise that

it can cost $lOO just to keep the door open,” the spokesman said. Although the cost of amalgam is only a small part of a practice's running expenses, the inflated value of silver has worried the dental association. The spokesman did not believe that the cost of fillings would scare people off going to the dentist, but the president of the association’s Canterbury branch (Mr J. W. Ashby) said that silver could price demists “out of the market.”

The increased cost of amalgam would have a “very marked” effect on the costs of a dental practice, Mr Ashby said. Although dentists had experimented with many other materials, there had been no real alternative found for silver, which was itself an alternativeto gold. The metals have properties which match those of teeth, being able to withstand pressure of up to 400 pounds per square, inch, contracting and expanding with the toothg and being resistant to cracking or flowing? Plastics and silica., mat-,; erials had not met these criteria.

However, one dentist felt that the rising cost of ’ fillings and X-rays would, encourage people to pre|< vent the need for fillings.” But if fillings ere neces-? sary, his advice was “have them done while they’re, only small ones.”