The Children’s Dental Benefit Schedule: Helping Kids To Grow Up Smiling
You may have heard the news about the new dental benefit replacing the current Medicare Teen Dental Plan (MTDP).
If you haven’t, it’s the perfect opportunity to get up to speed with the new policy and how it may be able to help the children in your life maintain good oral health and achieve that bright smile that will last them through to adulthood.
The Children’s Dental Benefit Schedule
The Children’s Dental Benefit Schedule (CDBS) is set to replace the MTDP from January 1, 2014. While the current plan only covers the cost of an annual preventive dental check for those aged 12-17, the new CDBS will cover a wider range of services and children aged between 2 and 17 will be included in the scheme.
To be eligible to receive the benefit, families will need to undertake a means test. It’s expected that around 3.4 million Australian children in total will be covered by the CDBS.
Under the new benefit, children will be able to receive a payout capped at $1,000 each over a two year calendar period to cover the cost of basic dental services.
This means examinations, x-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, extractions and root canals are all covered by the CDBS. However, orthodontic work and cosmetic dentistry procedures are excluded from the schedule. In addition to this, services provided by a hospital are also exempt from the benefit.
Why earlier is better
With the CDBS, there’s more motivation than ever for parents to really commit to the preventive dental approach for their children.
Taking your child along for regular dental check-ups every six months can have a critical effect on their overall oral health. These check-ups provide the opportunity for early detection of any dental issues that may be present in your child’s mouth.
The longer dental problems go untreated, the more severe the impact can be on your child. That’s why regular check-ups are essential for identifying and resolving these issues before they can pose a more serious problem for your child.
We bulk bill CDBS patients at Corinna Dental Group
Our three sites are bulk billing CDBS patients. Our dedicated Oral Health Therapist, Camille Gacusan, is specialised in treating children. Camille is firmly of the opinion that, prevention is better than cure and sees her role in patient education about oral hygiene as pivotal in helping maintain optimum oral health. We encourage your family and friends with children to take advantage of this government initiative to ensure your kids grow up smiling. To find out more and check eligibility please contact Medicare on 132 011.
More information is available on the Department of Health website http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/medicare/child-dental-benefits-schedule. If you have any questions regarding the details of the scheme please call Medicare on 132 011.
Click here for more information on the Child Dental Benefits Schedule