Fascinating, the erroneous conclusions that you are able to arrive at, Shadow Minister, with the absolute minimum of evidence.

>> Based on what you perceive of dentists' capabilities, you must be a public servant.<<

Your observation above is wrong in every aspect.

My perception of a dentist's capabilities - particularly in the private sector - is that they have a very physically tiring job. (Which is why, incidentally, I request the first appointment of the day, before fatigue has a chance to set in.)

Adding more appointments to their day has two key dimensions. The practical daily limit (see above), and the impact on their operating margins. A successful dentist with a thriving practice does not have much - if any - room to expand their day. And the fees, calculated on dollars per hour, are generally lower on a government tariff. With the kind of fixed costs they bear, this is not a trivial consideration if they are displacing higher revenue-earning capability.

So the cohort of dentists who will provide these services will be by definition less successful. Of course, they will be less likely to have a problem with the fees - in fact, it might even represent an increased margin for them - but you might want to ask whether this segment is the one that you, personally, would trust with the health of your teeth.

>>Unlike the government, I cannot see a small business taking more than a month or two to get ready once they have access to the required information<<

For the record, I have never worked in the public sector. Furthermore, I have little faith that public servants, as a class, are able to replace a lightbulb without first writing a two-hundred-page manual, submitting it to endless reviews, having it circulated to every single office worker (requiring the appropriate confirmation of receipt), before finally electrocuting themselves the first time they use it.

When these folk are required to establish a protocol for dentists in private enterprise, they first have to wrestle with the fact that they don't even speak the same language.

Pericles,

I love how you suck this BS out of your thumb. It has become amazingly clear that you have little to no knowledge of either project management or dentistry. Your assumption that all good dentists are 100% busy, and those that are not are incompetent, is particularly heroic

Dentists are typically more busy at peak times and not so busy otherwise. Clients that are more flexible time wise, e.g. the unemployed, can fill the gaps so to speak, without the need for extended hours etc. The new dental plan would mean an approximately 10-20% work load increase, of which 10% could be accommodated in a heart beat.

The start of the program could begin the roll out in January if the government actually had the cash and the competence.