21 May 2026
Regional dental crisis leaves families with nowhere to turn
The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland MP, has called on the Allan Labor Government to address the lack of accessible 24-hour emergency dental care across regional Victoria, warning families are being left with nowhere to turn after hours.
Ms Cleeland has written to the Minister for Health demanding answers on what action is being taken to address what she described as a growing and unacceptable gap in essential healthcare.
“Access to urgent dental care should not depend on your postcode,” Ms Cleeland said.
“If a child breaks a tooth in Melbourne, families can usually find help. In regional Victoria, parents can spend hours ringing clinics across multiple towns and still be left with nowhere to go.”
Ms Cleeland is calling for the creation of a coordinated regional on-call emergency dentist network to provide after-hours coverage across country communities.
The call follows a troubling case raised by a local constituent, Sarah, whose eight-year-old daughter broke a tooth on a weekend.
Over three hours, Sarah contacted clinics across Benalla, Yarrawonga, Wodonga, Albury, Wangaratta, Shepparton, Mansfield and Euroa without success.
Not a single service in the region could provide immediate care.
Even Nurse-on-Call was unable to direct the family to a local option, instead pointing them towards services in metropolitan Melbourne.
With no alternative, the family made a six-hour round trip to Glen Waverley on a Sunday so their daughter could receive treatment.
After-hours providers who later returned calls indicated the earliest available appointment locally would not be until Tuesday.
“This wasn’t about convenience. It was a child in pain with no local care available,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We expect our health system to provide a safety net in emergencies. In this case, that safety net simply didn’t exist.”
The family also reported that local hospitals were limited to offering pain relief and basic triage, with no capacity to provide urgent dental intervention.
Ms Cleeland said the case reflected broader failures in planning and resourcing healthcare services across regional communities.
“I’ve asked the Minister what concrete steps are being taken to address the lack of 24/7 emergency dental care across regional Victoria,” she said.
“I’ve also asked whether the government will support a practical regional on-call system so families can access urgent treatment closer to home.”
Ms Cleeland said regional families deserved a healthcare system that responded when it mattered most.
“Regional families pay taxes like everyone else and deserve access to emergency healthcare when they need it,” she said.
“No parent should be forced to drive across the state in the middle of a crisis because the system failed to provide basic urgent care locally.”
“This is a fixable problem, but it requires the government to take regional healthcare seriously.”