I think you'll see a lot of this come out with the oral health access fund proposals, but one of the challenges I faced as a pediatric dentist.... My speciality area was children, but I treated all adults with special needs, because once they turned 18 or 19, I had nowhere to send them. Some of the work they needed was outside of my scope and involved denture care, implants and things like that.
There needs to be a pipeline for training programs and mentorship for young professionals to realize that they can treat these patients first. They can be a part of the team, whether it's in screening, basic care or prevention.
I think we also need to improve access to hospital care for those who really need it. Sedation is becoming a little too popular for a lot of patients. Some of the patients with more complex medical needs are on the same waiting lists. It's really about looking into creating more specialized hospital departments to care for those who need these services.