New oral health service to prevent and protect

THE region's dental heads have hit back at suggestions children will be severely disadvantaged by the roll out of a new collaborative oral health service in the south between the Otago and Southland District Health Boards.
Traditionally, many children have received dental treatment at their own school clinic, but in recent years these have slowly been phased out and the current push is for a more centralised system.
In Southland, main hubs have been set up at Fernworth and Waihopai schools, and will gradually be assisted by mobile clinics as well as smaller, fixed clinics at Winton, Gore, Lumsden and Riverton.
While offering better services and better technology, centralisation has been criticised by some, who believe having to travel, even within city boundaries, will be troublesome for working parents and will facilitate more at risk children "falling through the cracks".
Fluoridation-free New Zealand coalition representative Mark Atkin is one staunchly opposed and recently commented that in the case of Otago children, half will not be able to properly access dental care under the new hub-based scheme, causing opposition among school principals.
"We used to have a school dental service that was the envy of the world - all children could access it for free," Mr Atkin said.
"The demise of that service is a major threat to children's dental health. It is simply two-faced for a Health Board to say we have to have fluoridation because it is so heart-wrenching to do teeth extractions on under fives, then further decimate the school dental service."
Oral Health Project Manager Graham Bugler said children in Invercargill were not falling through the cracks, while all Otago children will have free access to mobile or fixed facilities.
Mr Bugler said $8 million of additional capital funding for Otago and Southland, along with nearly $2m per annum additional operational funding, some of which is for additional staffing, was hardly decimating the service.
Mr Bugler said in the past the Ministry of Education had owned school dental clinics and the Ministry of Health had been charged with delivering the services, with an ongoing issue of who should pay for what.
In many instances, the facilities had simply become dated, and it did not make economic sense to upgrade, he said.
There was always a variation on that, some schools were more than happy to wave goodbye to the clinics, and some passionate about having a clinic on site.
While some were critical of having to travel, SDHB Clinical Director for Oral Health, Tim Mackay said, the new hubs encouraged parents to attend with their children and enabled therapists to discuss their child's needs, preventing future problems.
At present, the average child entering the school oral health system already needed two fillings, something he described as "not flash", but a normal psyche.
This had to change, he said, and parental input was crucial, as was targeting lower socio-economic areas where traditionally dental problems were more common.
The new hubs were also easier to locate, he said.
"What is good is the public know where we are. There was a huge criticism in the past that we were moving around too frequently and no one knew how to find us."
In response to criticism of fluoridation, which has been facilitated in Invercargill and Bluff, but was rejected by other areas of Southland, Dr Mackay said it was about creating equality, ensuring those in disadvantaged areas had easy access to another tool which fought tooth decay.
"It's been going on for 50 years and is a safe and effective way of reducing inequalities.
"While some people brush their teeth and eat the right foods, other kids don't have that."
Mr Bugler said the roll out would be a three year process, with the mobile clinics to be up and running by Christmas and the fixed facilities to follow, and there shouldn't be any cause for parents to be alarmed by the transition.
"Nothing is going to change over night, there's plenty of time for parents and schools to adjust," Mr Bugler said.