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Speaker 1: New twist in the old dental argument and who should pay.

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Speaker 1: New reports suggests a fully funded dental system i either

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Speaker 1: state pace for it could cost less than what we

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Speaker 1: do right now now. Their argument is that lost productivity

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Speaker 1: and life satisfaction is worth five point four billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: Obviously we need to ask how they come up with that.

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Speaker 1: The New Zealand Dental Association policy director doctor Robin Wyman's

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Speaker 1: with us Robin morning glining, how are you well, thank you?

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Speaker 1: How do you come up with it?

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Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't our figures. Actually, this is a report

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Speaker 2: from another group talking about the cost impact of poor

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Speaker 2: dental health and what they looked at was actually the

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Speaker 2: lowest or the highest need twenty two percent. So it's

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Speaker 2: actually quite a little bit misleading to say extrapolate that

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Speaker 2: across the whole population. But what we do agree with

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Speaker 2: is that if you've got poor dental health then it

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Speaker 2: does impact a cross and two more costs than just

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Speaker 2: paying for the visits to the dentist. There certainly costs

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Speaker 2: in terms of lost productivity in some days, in your

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Speaker 2: propect on your life. So absolutely we agree with that,

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Speaker 2: and we've had research earlier that showed similar things.

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Speaker 1: It's a funny thing. If you follow the Farmac debate

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Speaker 1: with David Seymour, he's trying to argue something similar. So

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Speaker 1: he says if they can come to him and say,

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Speaker 1: if you fund ex pill or potion, we can save

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Speaker 1: why number of dollars in the wider economy, he's open

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Speaker 1: to that argument. So if he's open to that argument there,

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Speaker 1: it might be they're open to this argument here.

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Speaker 2: Well, it may be, and I think if we the

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Speaker 2: way we're looking at this is to say, well, where

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Speaker 2: are those higher needs and where would you get perhaps

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Speaker 2: the most impact. And so what the Dental Association saying

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Speaker 2: is it would make some sense if you look at

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Speaker 2: the research to increase the free dental care scheme, which

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Speaker 2: goes up to eighteen years old into the mid twenties,

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Speaker 2: that's where we see quite a peak of acute admissions

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Speaker 2: into hospital and that young adult group with not we're

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Speaker 2: not talking about fractures and things like that. We're talking

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Speaker 2: about infections and things that need to be treated.

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Speaker 1: It's because they don't have the money. They've had it free.

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Speaker 1: They're out there on the workforce for the first time

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Speaker 1: or as a student, they don't have the money. They

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Speaker 1: don't go to the dentist. That's where the problems come along.

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Speaker 2: Well, but also that's where we tend to see some

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Speaker 2: impact into things like the hospital system, which is driving

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Speaker 2: a whole lot more cost than going to the dentists.

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Speaker 1: Where do you draw the line though, If you said free,

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Speaker 1: what is it? A check up? Is it a filling?

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Speaker 1: Is it root canal work? Is it veneers? What is it?

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Speaker 2: I think we'd talk about the essential dental care, so

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Speaker 2: check ups and fillings tooth out, if that needed to happen,

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Speaker 2: maybe you would go to root canal treatment, particularly if

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Speaker 2: you're talking about front teeth and those sorts of areas.

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Speaker 2: We're not talking about cosmetic treatments like veneers and orthodontics

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Speaker 2: in that sort of area.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's say where it goes. Robin appreciated Robin Wiman,

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Speaker 1: who's the New Zealand Dental Association policy director.

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