Bass Coast Health (BCH) offers a comprehensive public dental service to the communities of Bass Coast and South Gippsland to keep everyone’s teeth and mouths as healthy as possible.
This Dental Health Week, we’re reminding the community that our skilled and experienced Dental team offers care for eligible children through to adults for free or minimal cost.
Patient Les McLean was complimentary of the service and the staff.
“I can’t complain about the service. It’s 11 out of 10 from me because of the way everything is explained to me and the staff are so gentle,” he said.
Our dental service is located at Wonthaggi Hospital, 235 Graham Street, Wonthaggi.
The service includes an Early Childhood Oral Health Program to ensure children’s teeth have a healthy start that sets them up for a lifetime of optimal dental health and covers everything from check-ups to education about caring for one’s teeth.
This is followed by our Youth Dental Program and continues into the next phase of life with general adult dental services.
These services involve the whole suite of care, from check-ups and cleans, to fillings and dental devices where prescribed.
“We also offer emergency dental care to address problems of the mouth that arise suddenly and require swift dental attention,” Dental Manager Kyshen Tang said.
“We’re also helping people to regain quality of life after losing teeth by offering a denture service that enables our patients to enjoy the foods they love again without pain and discomfort.”
Our youth program also extends to Victorian Government schools through Smile Squad, the Victorian Government's free school dental program. Smile Squad is being led by the Department of Health and Dental Health Services Victoria, with input from the Department of Education. Services are currently being delivered across Victoria by local community dental agencies. The program is completely free for all Victorian government school students.
For children aged up to 12 there is no waiting list and the service is free for concession card-holders. Bulk-billed treatment is available for all children eligible for the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. For those children who are not eligible, there is small capped co-payment free. Emergency appointments are free.\
Teenagers aged 13-17 don’t need to wait either. The service is free for concession card-holders and the service is bulk-billed for non-card-holders eligible for the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.
Non-card-holders 0-17 years of age are also eligible if they are:
• In out-of-home care provided by the Children Youth and Families Division of the Department of Human Services
• Youth justice clients in custodial care.
Adults must hold a current Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card. Capped costs and waiting times may apply.
For more information or to make an appointment, please phone our reception team on 03 5671 3268.