Dr Rachel Mascord, who works at Warrawong Accident and Medical Centre, said the two-year program had helped ‘’break the cycle’’ of poor dental health for many Illawarra families.

‘’The Child Dental Benefits Schedule entitled parents in lower income brackets to have their children (aged two to 17 years) to receive up to $1000 worth of treatment every two years,’’ she said.

‘’It has allowed children, who otherwise wouldn’t have, to have regular checkups and to forge a relationship with a dentist so they get into a regular rhythm of having dental care in their lives.

‘’In many cases it has helped break the cycle of poor dental health –parents in a pickle with their teeth have been able to get their children into the habit of taking care of their teeth.’’

More than a million Australian children have received dental care under the means-tested Child Dental Benefits Schedule introduced by Labor in January 2014. Nearly all those children have been bulk-billed, and 80 per cent were treated by private dentists.

However this week the Federal Government announced the scheme would stop on July 1, 2016.

Instead, the government will provide $2.1 billion over five years to establish the Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme. Under the plan, all children under 18 are eligible for subsidised public dental coverage.

Dr Mascord said while the new scheme sounded great, it was ‘’lacking in substance’’.

‘’It’s talking about moving children into the public sector for treatment – a sector which is already under pressure and where waiting lists are blowing out,’’ she said.

Throsby MP Stephen Jones said at the end of December, there were 9203 children, and 104,156 adults, waiting for public dental care.

‘’The reason why we used a voucher scheme was because people in regional and remote areas found access to the public system difficult if not impossible, and that’s before we take the waiting lists into account,’’ he said.

‘’Now, not only has the Federal Government closed down the answer to reducing those waiting lists, it has increased the number of people who can now access them.’’​

However Liberal Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis said the new scheme would be a ‘’huge help for families’’.

‘’We know that poor oral health can have major impacts on the overall well-being of people of all ages, and we are tackling this with the largest-ever Commonwealth-investment in frontline public dental services to ensure all children and adults with concession cards who need it most do not fall through the cracks.’’