Australia - Queensland - Water fluoridation and pay high on dental association's agenda

Water fluoridation, pay high on dental association's agenda
Fluoridation of Brisbane's water supply and pay for dentists will be high on the agenda tonight when the Australian Dental Association (ADA) meets with Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson.
With the State Government expected to take control of water treatment plants in south-east Queensland in 2009 as part of the restructure of the water supply system, the ADA says planning should start now for introducing fluoridated water supplies.
ADA Queensland president Dr Martin Webb told ABC Brisbane's Chris O'Brien he will hand Mr Robertson a survey into public attitudes to fluoridation in south-east Queensland, which will be passed on to Premier Peter Beattie.
"We have agreement within Queensland Health people about the effectiveness of fluoridation, we have agreement with all the state health ministers around the whole of Australia - it's ALP policy, it's government policy, we just don't seem to be able to get it through the very top of the Government," he said. "So we keep the pressure on the very top of Government. It's just a matter of trying to encourage them to see the sense and see the science behind fluoridation."
Dr Webb says the meeting will also look at strategies to reduce waiting lists in the public dental system. "One of the ideas that I've been pushing quite strongly for is to have a higher salary for the public dentists so there's an encouragement for them to want to stay in the public sector rather than drift off into the private practice areas," he said.