Dental As Anything

Matt Hopcraft

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HEALTH & FITNESS
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Dental As Anything is a podcast to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics related to dentistry (and beyond), exploring critical issues that affect oral health across the community. It is a valuable resource for dental professionals and anyone interested in the intersection of dentistry, public health and wellbeing. Hosted by Matt Hopcraft, dentist & public health academic.

FEB 12

The future is now

Discussion on the future of dentistry invariably converges on advances in technology - whether it is new materials or equipment, or the holy grail of growing a new tooth. Things that are designed to make our lives as dentists easier, simpler, faster or more profitable. And obviously deliver better outcomes to patients. One thing that they tend to have in common is that they perpetuate the treatment focus of dentistry. The future of dentistry is apparently about how we treat dental disease in new and innovative ways. There is no reimagining a completely new future that doesn’t revolve around treating dental disease. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I talk aboutsome of the issues confronting the dental profession that we must grapple with if we want to build future where all Australians have fair, equitable and affordable access to healthcare. Where prevention is prioritised and valued. And corporate interests and profits – of all sorts – take a back seat to an individuals right to health.

28 min
JAN 29

Suicide and dental practitioners

This podcast discusses suicide and topics that some people may find distressing. If this raises any issues for you crisis support services like Lifeline can be reached 24 hours a day on 13 11 14 A new paper just published in the Journal of the American Dental Association looked at suicide mortality amongst US dentists between 1979 and 2018. It found that dentists experienced a higher suicide mortality than the general population, and that had increased since 1995. This is a tough topic to discuss, but such an important one, as this recent publication highlights. Dentistry is a stressful profession, and dental practitioners suffer a high burden of psychological distress and mental illness. More broadly, suicide continues to be a significant issue in Australia. Every day nearly nine Australians take their life, and it’s estimated that for every death around 30 people will attempt suicide. When we studied the mental health and wellbeing of Australian dental practitioners at the end of 2021, we found that 1 in 6 reported thoughts of suicide in the previous 12 months, with nearly 1 in 3 saying that they had ever thought about taking their own life, and 5.6% reported having previously made an attempt to take their own life. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I unpack some of the findings of this latest study, compare to some of the findings from our Australian research and discuss some strategies that we can all use to tackle the mental health crisis in the dental profession. First and foremost we need to keep having discussions about mental health and wellbeing, and working to remove the stigma that is associated with mental health. Get in the right frame of mind to ask the question, and make sure you leave time to have the conversation. Be prepared if the answer is ‘I’m not okay’ and make sure you are in the right headspace for this response. Are you ok? How are you going? I just wanted to check in and see how you are going? Listen with compassion and empathy, and without judgement. You don’t have to solve their problem, just focus on helping to understand. Don’t interrupt and be prepared to sit in silence – it’s not easy for somone to answer the question and open up about their struggles. Show empathy and let them know that you have heard them. Ask if there is anything that you can do to support them and if they have been seeking professional help. If not, encourage them to see a doctor or other mental health professional, particularly if they have been experiencing significant struggles for more than two weeks. There are also services like: Lifeline 13 11 14 Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 Set a reminder to follow up and see how they are going. Ask if they have sought professional help, and encourage them again if they haven’t. Conversations about mental health can be uncomfortable for everyone. It’s not easy. But it can be life changing. Speaking up is important to save lives. If you’re struggling, it’s also important to speak up and ask for help. It’s not a weakness, it’s a strength. What can we do?Get ReadyAskListenEncourage ActionFollow-up

25 min
JAN 15

How accurate was dental workforce modelling?

In 2014 Health Workforce Australia (HWA) released a report on the future oral health workforce. It came amidst claims from the dental profession that we were facing an oversupply of dentists and calls to cap the number of dental schools and domestic dental graduates, as well as removing dentists from the Skilled Occupation List. The HWA report predicted a persistent workforce oversupply until at least 2025, projecting that we would have 19,624 dentists and dental specialists working clinically in Australia. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I drill down into the Health Workforce Australia modelling to see whether their workforce predictions were correct [narrator – they were not], and take a more detailed look at the maldistribution of the dentist workforce over the past decade. Click here for the charts show the change in the number of dentists (including dental specialists) per 100,000 people by Local Government Area, broken down into Major Cities, Inner Regional and Outer Regional that are mentioned in this episode.

33 min
12/11/2025

Using 3D intra-oral scans to diagnose decay

Dental caries continues to be one of the most important public health problems in Australia, and particularly for Australian children. One in three children experience tooth decay in their baby teeth by the age of 5-6 years and 40% in their adult teeth by the age of 12-14 year, and it is the leading cause of preventable hospitalisations amongst Australian children. So early detection and prevention are critically important – at both a public health and individual patient level. New research published this week shows potential new applications for 3D intra-oral scanning with fluorescence as a tool to enhance the early detection of tooth decay. It is particularly useful to enable a comprehensive dental assessment for children who are only able to tolerate a brief or limited time in the dental chair, and may have telehealth applications for people living in rural and remote areas. This week on the Dental As Anything podcast I speak to Dr Bree Jones. Bree is a dental academic and researcher at the Melbourne Dental School with expertise spanning public health, diagnostic innovation, education, and sustainability. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Oral Health, Graduate Certificate in Dental Therapy (Advanced Practice), Master of Public Health, and PhD. She is the lead author of this paper which found that on-screen assessment of 3D models in colour showed strong agreement with a standard clinical visual examination for caries detection at different disease thresholds - from early lesions through to more extensive disease. 3D intra oral scanning might be a feasible alternative to traditional in-person clinical examination for research, monitoring and population level surveillance.

37 min
11/06/2025

Anatomy of a Parliamentary roundtable

Advocacy is an important part of our role in the dental profession, but often feels like a thankless task. I recently spent the day in Canberra courtesy of the Australian Dental Industry Association who hosted a parliamentary roundtable on the dental industry. This week on the Dental As Anything podcast I give you a peak behind the curtains to hopefully gain some insight into what actually happens, how oral health is viewed in Canberra and perhaps why progress isn’t as quick as we would like (but why there is hope on the not too distant horizon).

39 min
10/23/2025

Myth busting the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme

With recent talk about expanding Medicare to include more dental services, it’s worth revisiting the last time that this was done with the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, which ran from 2008 to 2013. The scheme delivered nearly $2.8 billion in dental treatment, highlighting the value of the scheme in improving access for necessary dental care as well as evidence of pent-up demand. However, the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme became politicised and was controversially brought to a close in 2013 amidst allegations of rorting by dental practitioners and cost blow-outs. Myths about the scheme, particularly the reasons for its closure, persist to this day, making ongoing advocacy efforts to improve access to dental care much more difficult. This week on Dental As Anything I talk to Professor Hans Zoellner, former head of Oral Pathology at the University of Sydney. He formed the Association for the Promotion of Oral Health, a think-tank and advocacy group to improve oral health, and was outspoken in his support for the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme. He has provided evidence to various state and federal parliamentary inquiries and published research on the utilisation of the scheme highlighting how it was functioning to meet an important community need.

1h 10m
10/09/2025

Dental opioid prescribing

Opioid prescribing by Australian dentists has increased over the past decade, although the quantity dispensed has reduced. New research highlights some concerning trends with significant implications.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast I speak to Associate Professor Leanne Teoh about her latest study and the implications for the dental profession. Leanne is a pharmacist, practising dentist and academic at the Melbourne Dental School.She has a strong interest in dental prescribing and developed MIMS Drugs 4 Dent as a clinical decision tool for dental practitioners and co-authored Therapeutic Guidelines Oral and Dental Version 2.

34 min
09/25/2025

Are you embarrassed by your smile?

We make snap judgements about people based solely on their appearance, and draw negative assumptions about people with visibly poor oral health, contributing to shame, stigma and even bullying. The face is the window to the soul. Our physical appearance,particularly that of our smile, often dictates people’s first impressions of us. And first impressions flow through to behaviours – to how people treat us. And as we know, first impressions are hard to shake. That is why the dentalprofession has been shifting over time from one that has been solely focused on disease and function to one where appearance and aesthetics are key, both responding to and driving patient demand. But what of the people who sufferfrom poor oral health, and who struggle to access dental care? Two recent research papers piqued my interest, one looking at the issue of bullying related to tooth loss in Australian children, and the other an exploration of the issue of dental shame. They get to the heart of this idea that good oral health is fundamental to our appearance and to our self-esteem. We know this is important, because it is almost impossible to hide your dental condition from others during any form of social interaction. It’s why poor oral health is probably one of the most obvious and visible signs of poverty and disadvantage. In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcastI talk about the social and psychological impact of poor oral health and the importance of thinking more broadly about the impacts for people who cannot access dental care. References: Does Tooth Loss Lead to School Bullying? Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Dental Shame: A Call for Understanding and Addressing the Role of Shame in Oral Health

17 min

Dental As Anything is a podcast to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics related to dentistry (and beyond), exploring critical issues that affect oral health across the community. It is a valuable resource for dental professionals and anyone interested in the intersection of dentistry, public health and wellbeing. Hosted by Matt Hopcraft, dentist & public health academic.

Creator

Matt Hopcraft
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

49
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Matt Hopcraft
Show Website

Dental As Anything