Supercharged Smiles: A Discourse Analysis of Australian Media Coverage of Funding Dental Care Through Superannuation.

Abstract

Background: The early use of superannuation savings towards dental treatment is a phenomenon that has emerged in recent years within Australia. This research investigates the media's response and coverage of how this usage of private, yet segregated funds has developed and grown. Through analysing the media's portrayal of this issue, valuable insights into dentists' evolving professionalism and societal attitudes towards oral health can be gained.

Methods: A search of two online databases and the grey literature was used to identify relevant media sources that related to the utilisation of superannuation funding to facilitate accessing dental care in the Australian private sector. A discourse analysis methodology was used to analyse the corpus of articles identified through the search strategy.

Results: A total of 36 separate, non-duplicate media articles were located through the search strategy. The discourse within the texts was examined and the key themes and power dynamics that emerged were explored in detail. The three themes used to structure the discussion of the corpus of articles were: (1) outrage at the necessity of compassionate release of superannuation for essential dental care; (2) the abuse of the compassionate release of superannuation for elective and cosmetic dental care; and (3) exploitation of vulnerable consumers by professionals.

Conclusion: The overarching discourse relating to early superannuation access to fund dental care was negative, with media articles covering instances of consumers losing their money, having to pay more tax as a result of accessing their superannuation early than they were expecting, and the reality that accessing superannuation early has significant financial impacts later in life. Dentists and third-party access facilitators were portrayed as being exploitative and lacking in transparency in relation to the costs involved in early superannuation access. Dentists were also suggested to be aiding in the inappropriate access of superannuation funds for treatment that was largely elective and cosmetic in nature, rather than being more essential in nature in alignment with the intentions of the early compassionate release scheme.