The irony is not lost on Dr David Digges. Most workdays he works from in his Bellevue Hill dental practice of many years, where he and his team deliver services in cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, as well as general and family dentistry to patients from one of Australia’s most affluent post codes.

He was in fact one of the first dentists in Australia to introduce porcelain veneers and provides state-of-the-art crown and bridgework supported by Australia’s best laboratories.

Yet for the past 20 years, he has always created space for streams of charitable work, locally and internationally. Dr Digges has been recognised as a foundational force fuelling the ADA NSW’s charitable initiatives.

He has been integral to the success of Filling the Gap in addressing unmet dental care needs among the state’s most vulnerable people. The organisation supports patients with limited access to care, including victims of domestic violence and those recovering from drug addiction.

“Dentists know the correlation between dental and overall health, noting that simple dental treatments can significantly improve patients’ lives and employability. It is a holistic approach to dental care we provide our patients,” Dr Digges said.

“Volunteer days are organised to provide free dental services, with recent events treating 20 patients in one afternoon, valued at $12,000 to $15,000, though we don’t charge these patients. The initiative encourages more dentists to volunteer, reassuring them of controlled patient referrals and minimal impact on their practice.”

Celebrating 50 years in oral health and counting

Dr Digges graduated from The University of Sydney in 1981 with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery. He has practised in Newcastle in the United Kingdom, and Sydney. He is a member of numerous other dental organisations, including The International College of Dentists (ICD), the Eastern Suburbs Dental Group, the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the Australian Prosthodontic Society.

While growing what has become a thriving private practice career, Dr Digges served as Chairman of the Australian Dental Health Foundation (ADHF) for a number of years and is currently the NSW chairman of the Australian Dental Association Dental Health Foundation (ADA DHF). This foundation organises dental care for the underprivileged, such as people referred from Youth Off the Streets, Matthew Talbot Hostel and St Vincent De Paul Society.

“I am a strong believer in giving back to the community, having regularly travelled to Balgo and East Timor to help people who would otherwise receive little dental treatment,” Dr Digges said.

Identifying the gaps

Dr Digges’ work and its incarnations have a common thread. Before Filling the Gap (FTG) existed, he was always trying to do forms of oral health volunteering work for those patients that could not access care.

“When FTG was formally inaugurated, we were already doing parallel work in NSW, but it stamped ADA’s commitment to a problem. There was one type of solution, and they supported each shape and form of that – really trying to reach people that needed our help. It was a process.

“Firstly, why did people need help? We may work in a private practice, have access to a dental hospital, and we do have a public health system. We’ve found that the patients that we reach fall through the gaps, and that could be women who are victims of domestic violence, or sometimes people who are recovering from a drug journey,” Dr Digges explained.

He notes that when you have a less than optimal health outcome, your dental condition deteriorates markedly, which makes patients’ lives hard. Volunteering can make a real difference for dentists who set aside time to really treat some fairly simple issues in a few hours, or a few sessions.

Dr Digges recalls one young man coming to see him who had two front teeth knocked out and extensive dental decay, who had likely experienced domestic violence.

“We go into automatic pilot, and any of our dentists in NSW would be able to do this because we are practiced. Worst case, we might be have to take out the two front teeth and make a temporary replacement denture,” he said.

“They will leave your rooms looking better, if not say 100% you’re at the 80 percentile. With one of the young patients we saw over last two months, who had multiple damage to the front teeth; they’ve probably put up with it for months or years, and they don’t realise we can quickly assess what the problem is and can fix it – that is a really great outcome.”

Impact of dental care on patients’ lives

Dr Digges is clear that the powerful everyday work we do as dentists has impacts.

“We can see the solution, and you get on and do it, and [it’s] not that hard and not always talking thousands of dollars,” he said. “Sometimes, with our modern composite… in just three hours we could transform a person’s front teeth to where they just about burst with pride and can hardly believe what you’ve done.”

Dr Digges believes more dentists and oral hygienists working together in FTG can achieve plenty – there is lifelong merit in giving back to the community. No surprise that he actively encourages all ADA NSW members to at least set aside some time to try volunteering, no matter how busy or new to dentistry they are.

Filling the Gap and ADA DHF work with Dr Digges to assign patients in a referral system within his busy schedule. Dental practices can volunteer as much or as little time as they are willing and able to.

Encouraging the next generation

At the end of the day, Dr Digges says our oral health is both about our wellbeing and our external presentation.

“Dental health is about our overall health, but also the way the world views you,” he said. “I’ve absolutely had patients that I’ve seen over time that have done the dental and, within months, I hear back through the grapevine, oh, they did get that job.

“Now the job could be a reception job, it could be in a club, it could be anything, and that makes us feel good as well, because you’re trying to heal the person with their dental health and you’re also trying to help them chart their own course in life and get back on their feet.

“And it’s not something that’s easily quantifiable. In normal dental practice life, you can achieve those things too, but this is different.”

“And it’s not something that’s easily quantifiable. I think you do feel good about being able to achieve that. In normal dental practice life, you can achieve those things too, but this is different.”

Like all meaningful work, Dr Digges says it can be fatiguing but he has no immediate plans to wind down.

“I still have this urge that if we could encourage more dentists to help it means that we share the load, as in, more patients get seen. I believe it is good for the dental profession to do it… good for all of us to contribute back, because we are in a privileged profession.

“I believe we are using our skills in a very low key way to restore people’s health and lives, and in terms of myself, probably I will do this until I retire.”