According to data released by Queensland Health, the highest number of graduates working in rural and remote areas are from James Cook University’s dental school, more than any other of the states three universities. There are currently 18 James Cook University graduates working in rural and remote, more than three times any other school.
The result is with thanks to the way the university’s dental and medical schools have been set up, with an ethos encouraging graduates to gain experience by working in rural and remote settings. “It’s commonly said that there are too many dentists in Australia, but there are completely maldistributed,” said Professor Neil Meredith, James Cook University’s head of dentistry. “There is a chronic shortage in rural and remote areas.”
In increasing its number of graduates in rural and remote areas, the university favours local candidates during the academic selection process, and places emphasis on the importance of placement in small communities throughout the course of study. “This is important because the students of today are the health care providers of tomorrow and an awareness of the special needs of patients in remote areas helps to create a lifetime of passion and enthusiasm” added Professor Meredith.
The announcement comes as the Royal Flying Doctor Service [RFDS] reports that residents in remote and rural Australia have poorer oral health than residents of major cities, with 37 per cent of adults living with untreated tooth decay in comparison to 23 per cent of those in major cities. In Indigenous Australians the statistic is even higher, with 57 per with teeth affected by decay. “The level of tooth decay I’ve seen in some remote communities is a lot greater than I expected – worse even than in some developing countries,” wrote Dr Hendrik Lai, a RFDS dentist, in the report (view it in full here).
