Dental should be covered by Medicare, and that's the tooth

I got a filling before Christmas.

It’s not my first and I’m sure it won’t be my last.

Despite regular check-ups and a solid oral hygiene regime, I’m cursed with the ominous-sounding “deep crevasses”.

It means my molars each have their own personal version of the Grand Canyon, and no matter how often they’re brushed it’s a sneaky entry point for decay.

It cost only a few hundred bucks, but a few weeks later, my tooth was aching again.

Turns out it needed a root canal conducted over several sessions to the tune of a couple of grand. Luckily, the spoilt DINKs that we are, the cost is within our budget.

For plenty of people, it wouldn’t be.

The pain got so bad before the first session I had to take a week off work. I was a delightful person to be around, as my husband and mates will attest to.

Thankfully, I have a kind and thorough dentist and am well on the road to recovery.

If the thrilling nature of my dental escapades has failed to engage your attention, here it is, my revolutionary take: Medicare should cover dental.

I know I’m not the first person to say this, but I cannot understand why this is seen as a wild leftie proposition.

Your teeth are part of your body. There’s no magical separation between oral health and physical health.

Quite the opposite.

We know dental disease increases the risk of infective endocarditis and there is a direct relationship between oral health and rheumatic heart disease.

A tooth infection can spread to the rest of your body, causing fever and fatigue.

Lost or decaying teeth can also result in pain when eating, leading to poor nutrition.

On top of that, the effect on self-esteem and mental health is enormous – not to mention the productivity loss when people can’t turn up to work due to pain.

Good oral hygiene habits can reduce the likelihood of tooth decay, but it can’t eliminate it, in the same way that exercise can reduce your risk of heart attack but doesn’t guarantee life-long coronary health.

Making access to the dentist dependent on how much spare cash someone has on hand means people put off care until they’re unwell enough to go to hospital. That puts more pressure on our already overloaded emergency departments and urgent care centres.

It’s bizarre that we’d prefer to let people’s oral health degenerate until they have a serious health condition rather than include dental in Medicare.

It doesn’t need to cover your colleague’s refrigerator-white veneers or mid-life crisis Invisalign, just the basics: an annual checkup, like you’d have at the GP, essential work to make sure you can eat and drink comfortably and your body isn’t battling an invisible infection.

There are plenty of divisive political issues coming to an ugly head in our country ahead of the next election, but I reckon something we could all push our pollies to stump up for is free dental care for all Australians.