Dentists turn away children in fees scrap

11.44am

Children in agony with acutely painful teeth are being turned away by dentists who claim the Government is paying them a pittance for providing free dental services.

The crisis over government subsidies has reached the point where dentists say it is unlikely there will be any free acute child dental care in school holidays and after-hours anywhere in New Zealand by Christmas.

Dentists throughout the country are contracted to handle acute cases for children up to secondary school age -- as a support to the school dental service.

During school holidays and after-hours, these dentists agree to see children and accept scale fees. A similar scheme, with higher fees, applies to secondary school children.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board has reports of at least two cases in the past month where young children with abscessed teeth were refused treatment.

One Opotiki mother, whose child was in agony, took two days to find a dentist who was prepared to treat her four-year-old, said board member Colin Bidois.

New Zealand Dental Association president Dr David Crum said about one third of Auckland's contracted dentists had pulled out of state-funded services and he predicted a nationwide crisis by Christmas.

Fee levels had not changed since 1996 and dentists were pulling out in droves because the subsidy went nowhere near to covering costs.

Under the special "junior" dental benefit scheme, the Government pays dentists a full subsidy for after-hours treatment for children who cannot be treated within the school dental system.

Dr Crum said disparities between the subsidy and the true costs were huge. For example, the Government paid $16.87 per consultation, $7.73 for X-rays and $38.26 to extract six baby teeth under local anaesthetic.

The privately funded equivalent of a consultation, X-rays and extraction of two baby teeth would be around $200.

"Dentists are not refusing to see these children, who are the responsibility of the school dental service -- they are refusing to see them at the benefit rates," he said.

But Mr Crum said the association would not condone dentists doing nothing for a child in agony. Dentists had an ethical responsibility to provide the care, remove the pain or to make sure the child got care elsewhere, such as the hospital, school dental therapist or another dentist.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES