Holden A C L. Supercharged smiles: a discourse analysis of Australian media coverage of funding dental care through superannuation. Aust Dent J 2025; DOI: 10.1111/adj.7000.

Challenging to dental professionalism

Dental care in Australia is provided largely by the private sector, but cost is seen as a major barrier to access. Individual superannuated pension funds, may, however, sometimes be drawn upon to fund urgent healthcare, which includes surgery, medication, psychiatric treatment, IVF and dental treatment. Applications for access for dental treatment have increased more than four-fold in the past five years. Media response to this arrangement were categorised as ‘outrage' that such a source of funding should be necessary, as it was seen a symptom of poor publicly funded oral healthcare; ‘abuse of the scheme' to fund elective, cosmetic procedures rather than essential pain-relieving care; and ‘exploitation' of vulnerable consumers by dentists by mis-selling, including not explaining long-term financial risks and the long-term costs of maintenance.

This is ‘a narrative of loss and damage; patients and consumers who have lost the chance of future opportunity for the immediate gratification of aesthetics and dentists who have lost their standing within society with their professionalism questioned'.