BOH (Sydney) GradDipHealthMedSc GradCertPublicEnvironSustHealth
About Me
Greetings
My name is Damian Siderides, nice to meet you! I'm a Sydneysider passionate about health. In particular, I work in oral health - which is far more than just teeth and gums.
Oral health means a smile with confidence; the ability to eat, drink, chew, swallow, speak and smile free of pain. Unfortunately, oral health is getting worse in Australia. Tens of thousands of Aussies are ending up in hospital with infections that could have been avoided with early oral health care. Many people are finding it difficult or expensive to get into the dentist. And we all know how uncomfortable it can be to sit in the dental chair!
But Australians are living longer and keeping their teeth for longer, too. The Australian population is growing and becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse. Health care workers are getting better at recognising people's individual health and personal needs. And thankfully, modern dentistry has made leaps and bounds from the 'medieval' experiences older people may recall. However, those who need oral health care and advice the most aren't really getting it. Most dental care happens in the private sector, which can be expensive whether you have private health insurance or not. There are long waiting lists for government-funded care in public clinics and hospitals. The government doesn't contribute much funding to dentistry. And sometimes there just isn't enough time for busy practices to sit down and spend time with patients on preventing disease.
My mission is to help educate the general public, in simple language, on what being an oral health therapist is all about, and how you can improve the oral health of yourself and your family.
What's an Oral Health Therapist? Is that like a dental assistant?
Not quite! Oral health therapists are dental practitioners registered with the Dental Board of Australia, the same body dentists, dental specialists, dental prosthetists, and dental hygienists need to be registered with. Oral health therapists are dually qualified in dental hygiene and dental therapy, and more. That means I clean, polish and whiten teeth, as well as do simple fillings, take out baby teeth, do simple nerve treatments for baby teeth, adjust braces, take moulds, photos, scans and X-rays of teeth; glue on wires, give numbing injections, and teach people how to take care of their mouths.
In Australia, oral health therapists have to undergo three years of full-time training at an accredited university. But the learning doesn't stop there. Like all dental professionals, oral health therapists must keep up to date with changes in the law, science and technology, with a minimum of 20 hours of continuing professional development each year. I do more than 60 hours of extra learning, on top of my preparation for teaching students and research.
Dental assistants are crucial to the dental team - I won't work without one! In Australia, they have usually completed a TAFE (vocational) Certificate III or IV in Dental Assisting. All oral health and dentistry students have some experience in assisting one another during their training, and most of us have worked as dental assistants before, during and after our studies. Dental assistants are experts at keeping dental procedures running smoothly, maintaining clean and well-maintained dental practices, and most importantly, keeping our patients safe.
Oral health is quite unique in the health world, in that we provide care with patients awake and conscious, inside their mouths, which opens into the throat. It is super important to keep the airway clear during dental work to prevent choking, inhaling or swallowing our tools! So dental assistants are the unsung heroes of the dental world - be sure to thank them at your appointments.
Okay, I go to the dentist, why do I need to see you?
Dentists have broader and further training than oral health therapists and are the leaders of the dental team. However, oral health therapists like myself provide fewer treatments in more detail, and have a preventive philosophy. Dentists can get busy doing many other procedures and right miss the forest for the trees. Gum disease and tooth decay are chronic diseases that can worsen over time or even be life long, but professional teeth cleaning and fillings do not cure them.
As an oral health therapy student, I started seeing patients under supervision in my second year of study. About half of my clinical rotations were dedicated to managing gum diseases; the other half to repairing and removing kids' teeth. At every appointment, we checked for germs and bleeding in the mouth and gave customised advice to help people improve with their home care, eating habits, qutting smoking and drug use, reducing alcohol intake, and more.
Meanwhile, dentistry students learnt a lot more theory, in some cases studying alongside medical students. Yes, dentists can do root canals, crowns and bridges, dentures, complex fillings, veneers, permanent tooth extractions and surgery. Oral health therapists cannot. But we are as good as, if not better than dentists, at preventive and early intervention care - general and deep cleaning, simple fillings, children's dentistry and so on. And we started seeing patients earlier than dentistry students, who start providing care under supervision in their third year of 4 or 5 years of study.
Why haven't I heard of Oral Health Therapists before? My dentist doesn't have one.
Good question. Before the year 2000, there were no oral health therapists - only dental hygienists, and dental therapists, both of which have been around for almost 100 years in different parts of the world.
Various Australian State and New Zealand governments trained dental therapists during the 20th century to provide government-funded oral health care in schools, mobile dental clinics, hospitals, gaols and more. No more dental therapists are being trained in Australia - but there are some very seasoned ones still working hard all over the country, including the private sector, and they are great teachers and mentors to new generations of oral health therapists.
Dental hygiene originated in the United States, and is very strongly established there, with nearly 100,000 dental hygienists providing care to Americans. We have one Australian university on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and a technical college in Adelaide, South Australia, that still train dental hygienists.
Today
Do Oral Health Therapists need to work under the dentist's supervision?
Not necessarily. I work in close collaboration with dentists and specialists, and prefer it that way, but make most of the decisions concerning my patient care myself. When I was training, and for a short time afterwards, there was a requirement for oral health therapists to not work independently and to be in a 'structured professional relationship' with a dentist. This was lifted in 2020.
Nonetheless, I think it's important to work in harmony with my colleagues; to discuss complex issues and interesting cases with them, to do training with them, and to identify areas for quality improvement. When I find disease that I am not qualified to treat, or if I am not sure, I am sure to refer and handover to dentists and specialists as required.
Discovering Oral Health and Oral Health Therapy
Why should you read this Oral Health Therapy website?
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
You will gain a new perspective on oral health and the professionals working to keep your mouth healthy. You will also discover new facts and insights that will help you improve and maintain your oral health, and become more aware of public health issues and relevant research in Australia.
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
There are over 3,100 Oral Health Therapists practising in Australia as at December 2023. They make up about 12% of all dental practitioners in the country.
How long does it take to become an Oral Health Therapist?
How many Oral Health Therapists are working in Australia?
How long does it take to become an Oral Health Therapist?
There are 8 Australian universities that teach three-year full-time programmes that qualify you for registration with the Dental Board of Australia as an Oral Health Therapist. Some Oral Health Therapists undertake further study for six months to train in checkups and fillings for adults.