Mobile surgeries part of plan to replace school dental clinics

Timaru will have two mobile dental surgeries and one four-chair community clinic to service the city and outlying rural areas by June next year.

The move is part of a national revamp of dental services for children aged up to 18 years.

Child and adolescent oral health services development project manager Coral Ross-Taylor said the new model of oral health care was "sorely needed".

About half of South Canterbury five-year-olds had disease-free teeth but 1863 children had an average of 4.3 decayed teeth.

"The current service is doing a good job filling decayed teeth but not reducing them," Mrs Ross-Taylor said.

"This is the first time for decades that there has been some positive change and an attempt to influence the oral health of children."

Present dental clinics did not meet the needs of modern-day dentistry.

"One of the new things will be digital X-rays. [They] will be taken on the spot and can be seen on the computer screen. So there is new technology to go with the new facilities."

Most school dental clinics in Canterbury will close as a result. They will be replaced with 12 multi-chair community clinics supported by 18 mobile dental surgeries.

Until the staggered introduction of the new system is complete, dental services will stay the same.

"There has been no loss of jobs, just a change of facilities," Mrs Ross-Taylor said. For the rural areas, the move was significant. "They will get better access to services. Some of those areas have had to travel to existing dental clinics, whereas now the access will be improved as the mobile units will come to their school."

The mobile dental surgeries will provide examinations and preventative work such as fluoride treatments and fissure sealing the application of a plastic coating to prevent decay.

If the children need further dental work, an appointment will be made at one of the multi-chair community clinicssituated mostly on school sites or Canterbury District Health Board land.

"Instead of a school having a dental clinic that is used only part of the year, it will be a community clinic open all year."

They would either be new buildings or refurbished rooms as in Ashburton, where rooms of the hospital were being used.

The government review of dental services showed up two big problems ageing buildings and facilities that dignity meet the needs of a modern-day dental service.

Ministerial adviser Hayden Cox said old school dental clinics were found to be increasingly outdated and nearing the end of their practical life.

"Major attention was needed to both the quality of the service and the facilities available. Each DAB developed plans as to how they could best deliver child and adolescent oral health services."

Mr Cox said the "school dental nurse", or dental therapist, would now carry out their role through the new facilities.

"Each DAB had the autonomy to decide how it wished to allocate the new fixed and mobile clinics. Some invested more heavily in mobile clinics supported by some community clinics, with others addressed school dental care through a greater number of fixed community clinics, supported by a few mobile clinics."

He said the decisions were based on such things as population spread, geography and ability to access centralised services.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne opened the first of New Zealand's 94 mobile dental surgeries in Ashburton in May.