Hi! Science reporter Belinda Smith here, filling in for your usual health newsletterer Olivia Willis this week.
 

Before her hiatus, Olivia wrote a story about a theme that consistently comes up in your emails to our team: the unaffordability of dental care.
 

Currently, Medicare does not cover most dental services.
 

But a recent survey of hundreds of dentists and other dental practitioners in Australia found around two-thirds think Medicare should be expanded to cover oral health.
 

Support was strongest for a means-tested and capped scheme, where patients would be eligible for subsidised care based on their income, and only covered to a certain financial limit.
 

Many of those surveyed reported their patients struggled to afford oral health care, which was compounded by the rising cost of living.
 

"Dentistry — which should be a necessary expenditure — has for a lot of people perhaps shifted over into a luxury item," dentist Matt Hopcraft said.
 

Meanwhile, Kate O'Halloran took a deep dive into the purported benefits of cold water immersion, and found there's not a whole lot of evidence for the practice.
 

And scientists in Queensland are looking at how the bug behind melioidosis might be adapting to the climate, the people who live in the area, or both.
 

Newsletter feedback? Have a topic you want us to cover? Send us an email.
 

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