More than $171 million in superannuation was released in the 2021-22 financial year, but dentists say it’s due to poor oral hygiene habits.
The number of people who tapped their retirement savings to pay for dental work has more than doubled in the past two years, and the Australian Tax Office approved more than $171 million in superannuation for early release last year.
Taxpayers can apply to access their super funds before retirement to pay for medical expenses if they are experiencing acute or chronic pain, mental illness or a life-threatening injury or sickness. They need to supply two medical reports backing their claim.
“We’re finding a bunch of people are coming back to us, and they’re saying, ‘We didn’t come in because of lockdowns’,” Dr Farrelly said.“For dental treatment, [problems] tend to spread. If you have a cavity, and it goes untreated, then a few months later you’ll have two cavities. If it’s more than a few months, then you have three, and then you have six, and then you have it all over your mouth, and it tends to snowball.
He added that he had heard of some clinics supporting patients to access their super for much-needed treatment, only for the patient to never return.Dr Linh Huang, co-owner of My Dental Clinic in Melbourne, said she filled out a “handful” of forms to help patients claim early access to super. More often, she said, she advised patients that the treatment they needed would not fulfil the ATO’s criteria for release.
“We try to see our patients every six months, and because we were unable to do our regular check-ups during that time ... we were having to send patients to specialists, when usually we were able to do that kind of maintenance work.” “A Google search for, ‘Can I withdraw my super for XXX surgery’ reveals dozens of surgery clinics and ‘financial services’ advertising assistance to withdraw superannuation for cosmetic surgery, bariatric [weight loss] surgery, spinal surgery, IVF, dental work, orthopaedics and other procedures,” she said.
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