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In Australia, fluoridation was first endorsed as an effective, safe and equitable means of improving population oral health over fifty years ago. However, recent opposition to attempts to introduce the measure in several regional Victorian towns has demonstrated that it remains a highly controversial health policy. This paper investigates the history of the Victorian fluoridation debate within a national and international context. It finds that although the evidence concerning fluoridation has advanced considerably, the essential arguments put forward by proponents and opponents have remained largely unchanged over that time. Protagonists incorporate the same scientific evidence yet come to polarised and unshakeable conclusions. I argue that the concept of deep structure ideation is a useful means to understand how this occurs. Furthermore, analysis of the ideas and social processes that determine a partisan position in the fluoridation debate makes this an important case study for approaching other durable scientific controversies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries, including Australia, are currently experiencing severe shortages of professional, para-professional, and semi-professional workers in their health care systems. This is generally conceived as a problem stemming from rising demand in health care services or the production of inadequate numbers of health related graduates. A qualitative study of health care workers in the Australian context challenges the adequacy of this supply-demand approach to the health care system; and demonstrates that solutions lie in the conceptualisation of the health sector as a socio-cultural system. Findings indicate the extent to which policies independently formulated for the health, education, finance, and industry sectors have, in combination, inadvertently impacted on the functioning of the health care system, and some policy mechanisms, such as privatisation and marketisation, have fundamentally eroded its structural framework. Conclusions can therefore be drawn about the relationship between workforce shortages and the neo-liberal orientation of recent governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]