Dental pain in the pocket

OUCH! When your dentist says open wide, they may be referring to your wallet, as Kate Lockart (above) found. Photo / Supplied

Mother of two Kate Lockart felt nervous before a visit to the dentist, but she didn't know the half of it.

She was told, to her horror, that she needed up to four root canals, fillings and treatment for an abscess. But the biggest shock was the cost: $3385.

The Whangarei woman's story is one many people face and she believes it shows that dentists should receive the same level of subsidies as doctors.

"How do other people cope with this sort of situation? There must be thousands of others out there who earn too much to qualify for Winz help but don't have enough income to stash away for a rainy day."

Mrs Lockart says it will take the family weeks to save the $450 to pay for the first - and cheapest - of her root canals.

The 30-year-old admits she could have been a little more careful with her teeth, but did not expect to have to fork out so much.

Mrs Lockart's husband, Dale, is the only breadwinner, and his income puts the family just above the threshold for Winz support.

A married community services card user qualifies for free emergency dental care provided he or she earns less than $36,618 a year.

Dental Association president Mark Goodhew told the Weekend Herald an investigation was needed into how low-income earners could be prompted into visiting the dentist regularly.

He said there was nothing to prompt people to seek preventive dental care, and the present emergency-treatment-only regime provided a "perverse incentive" to let bad teeth deteriorate.

But on the question of subsidies, the head of the oral health department at the Auckland University of Technology, Sue Cartwright, said subsidised treatment to teens had been a "disservice" in that it had bred adults unaccustomed to paying for dental care.

"My advice to people would be to go regularly," Dr Cartwright said. "We can pick things up when they are small, and they wind up costing you less in the long run."

Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton campaigned for subsidised dental services at the last election.

Mr Anderton believes a system needs to be developed that would see taxpayers making lifelong contributions in exchange for free dental care when required.

Though he had not done any recent costings, an estimate made about 10 years ago put the cost of a free system at about $1 billion a year. That estimate would likely have doubled by now, he said.

A spokesman for Health Minister Tony Ryall this week said the Government had no plans to extend subsidised dental care beyond its current boundaries.

REGULAR CLEANING AND CHECK-UPS

There's only one surefire way for an adult to get cheap dental care: get a time machine, return to childhood and start a regular toothcare regime.

Dental Association president Mark Goodhew says that while dentists can work wonders on rundown dental work, nothing beats the structural integrity of an intact tooth.

That means regular cleaning and regular check-ups from an early age.

But for those who spent their formative years favouring candy over Colgate, there are precious few ways to avoid paying a king's ransom at the dentist once a visit becomes unavoidable.

There's no money to be saved by simply not going to the dentist, Mr Goodhew says, though there can be benefits in hunting for bargains. "There's no set scale of fees in dentistry, and it does pay to shop around."

For anyone wanting to combine toothcare with a drive in the country, dental practices in rural areas can be cheaper than their urban counter-parts.

Staff at Te Kuiti Dental Centre - run by Dr Xue Mai Cao - reckon up to 50 per cent of adult clients come from outside the town. In Auckland, AUT University provides a cheap dental hygiene service - limited to scalings, x-rays and cleanings - but does not provide restorative care.

REASONS DENTISTS CAN BE SO DEAR

* Unlike their counterparts in the doctors' surgery, dentists seldom get away without taking some kind of "surgical approach" to meetings with their clients. In other words, they almost always have to put their hands in someone else's mouth, which bumps the price up.

* About 65 per cent of dentists' income goes on overheads, including rents, wages (generally an assistant and receptionist) and materials.

* Capital equipment: a chair starts at $20,000, dental engineering plant can cost into the hundreds of thousands, and most equipment is made overseas.

* Dentistry is a five-year course, and graduates can leave training owing tens of thousands in student loans.

Source: Mark Goodhew, president of the Dental Association