One in four children aged 5-10 have untreated tooth decay.

Three in 10 adults aged 25-44 have untreated tooth decay.

Read more: Patients in pain wait years for treatment

Three in 10 Australians delayed or avoided visiting the dentist due to cost.

These statistic from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show an extraordinary prevalence of dental problems in the general population.

The problem disproportionately affects people who have less money, with people living in a household with a yearly income of under $12,000 most likely to experience untreated tooth decay.

Just 23.5 percent of people in major cities experience tooth decay, while 37.6 percent in remote areas do.

On top of pain untreated dental problems can make people feel uncomfortable about their appearance and avoid eating certain foods.

Waiting times for public dental care don’t help. Over two million Victorians are eligible for public care, but just 400,000 access it.

Those eligible for publicly funded dental care wait an average of 19.7 months in Victoria. The longest waiting time for care was 48 months in February of 2018.

Bendigo is lucky to have a clinic with some of the lowest wait times in the state. 

Here if you need treatment but can’t afford to pay for private, you will wait just 9.4 months.

Nine months however, is still a long time to live with a toothache.

No one would consider living with a stomach ache, or a arthritic ankle or a migraine for so long, let alone for nearly 20 months.

So, why do we let people wait that long for dental treatment?

If you’ve ever had a tooth pulled out, I’m sure you were in no doubt that it was part of your body. I’m sure you would have been aware of it for days and even weeks after the fact.

Australia’s public health system deserves praise.

That we treat all people for their illnesses, whether they can afford to pay for it or not, is one of the great things about our society.

It’s a recognition that all people deserve to be in the best health they can be. It’s also a recognition that often those that can afford to pay the least suffer the most problems.

Many vulnerable people are eligible for publicly funded dental treatment, but they are waiting so long for it, it’s almost meaningless.

If our health includes our teeth, so why don’t we invest in publicly funded care for them?