David Hurst case is tip of the ice-berg, with systemic abuse of early access to super clause

The number of Australians raiding their super accounts early to get dental implants and other expensive treatments has exploded by 528 per cent in five years. Money-wise, the amount of money withdrawn has jumped from $66.4 million in 2018-19 to $526.4m in 2023-24, an increase of 793 per cent. And a lot of dentists are getting richer from gaming “compassionate release of super”, but patients aren’t necessarily getting better teeth. Industry insiders have revealed it’s a giant racket, with heavy advertising and marketing companies being used to seduce potential customers — a good chunk of whom don’t medically need implants and can improve their smiles with much less expensive treatments. The Sunday Times has spoken to prosthodontists who claim they’re having to repair the defective work of dentists who lack the qualifications, training and experience to perform the more specialised work. The issue is nationwide. One east-coast based prosthodontist, who didn’t want to be named, said the David Hurst case was the tip of the iceberg. More than 130 of Dr Hurst’s patients were stranded either mid-treatment or before it had started, when he died suddenly in December and it was discovered he’d taken money out of his company, including $2.3m in prepayments. Dr Hurst had helped the patients access their super to pay large sums for implants and other expensive dental work, much of which was defective. “You’re seeing it more and more, all of these patients getting ridiculous amounts of dentistry done that’s going wrong, and they’re being left stranded,” the prosthodontist said. “I’ve done dental implants for 30 years. I specialised in it. They are being over-prescribed. These people are getting upsold. Out of these patients getting their teeth removed for implants, how many of them really, honestly needed that, and how many of them could have just kept their teeth? “People aren’t being told that implants fail at about three times the rate of teeth. Most people in their 60s have had teeth for 50 years that are just starting to play up. Implants either work very well, or when they go wrong, they’re horribly wrong, and all of a sudden, it’s monumentally more expensive to repair them. An implant doesn’t quite deteriorate like a tooth, and at 10 years, people can need to have all the bone cut out around them to get them out. “The reality is about 50 per cent of (implant patients) will be having trouble at 10 years. Probably 80 per cent of them will be having trouble at 20 years. And those that have trouble will need to have them redone at another $100,000, if not more. “ Top Melbourne dentist Dr Kia Pajouhesh is one of the few to speak up on the issue. “Here is my personal message to clinicians practising in Australian dental clinics set up to game the system,” he wrote in a leading dentistry publication. “Please take a good look at yourselves, because you are about to cause the demise of yet another good public health initiative. Also spare a thought for your future selves, who in 10 to 15 years will have to face your patients needing much of your cosmetic treatment redone, having exhausted its lifespan, but who simply can’t afford to pay. “Another round of early access super will no longer be government policy, because your past selves abused the system.” WA Health Consumers’ Council executive director Clare Mullen said it was “saddening and infuriating” to read the stories about David Hurst “and then look into it more and discover just how unjust the dental regulatory system is and how it does not serve consumers at all.” “There’s some people getting rich, and there’s other people whose wealth is being potentially completely eroded,” she said. “I think everybody in that regulatory sector needs to step up. “Not everyone who’s advertising that they can do prosthodontist work is the same, and that it’s incumbent upon the ATO to make sure that the consumers are aware of what they’re buying. That’s also something that AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) should be having a hand in. “I would really like to see better self-regulation by the profession. The Australian Dental Association, which was meeting in Perth this week, says it exists to promote the ethics of dentistry. Well, it’s time they came to the party and started to address the bad actors in the field. “ An AHPRA spokesperson said it “was monitoring increases in access to superannuation to fund dental treatment”. It expected “dental practitioners to act ethically and in accordance with the code of conduct.” “AHPRA is engaging with other regulators such as the ATO on this issue, to ensure alignment and information sharing where possible,” a spokesperson said. The ATO claims accessing super to pay for medical expenses, should only be considered as a last resort. Applicants need to first establish that they have no other reasonable means of paying for part or all of the expense. Cosmetic treatments that are not medically needed are not eligible. But the ATO places reliance on the ethics of medical professionals to provide accurate reports. Failure to do so can result in severe penalties. Dentists are not allowed to encourage or advise patients to access their super to pay for treatment, unless they’re licensed to provide financial advice.