Community Dental Clinic Opens In Ashburton

Media Release
26 May 2009

Community Dental Clinic Opens In Ashburton

The first ever community dental clinic in New Zealand opened in Ashburton today, marking the start of a new national service delivery model that enables better access to publicly-funded oral health care for all children from birth to 17 years.

Dr Neil Croucher, President of the New Zealand School and Community Oral Health Services Society says, “We congratulate the Canterbury District Health Board for building this community dental clinic. It will go a long way to improving the quality and accessibility of oral health services to young people in the region.”

 
Dr Croucher says, “The dental profession and the Ministry of Health have recognised it’s time to modernise New Zealand's public dental services so that current and future generations of children and adolescents can enjoy free high-quality publicly funded dental care in modern purpose-built facilities.

“It is encouraging to see both previous and present governments support for this initiative with the provision of additional funding. It will allow all 21 District Health Boards to follow through with some or all of their plans to reconfigure and rebuild public dental services for children and adolescents.

“There will be new community-based public dental facilities, more mobile clinics and some school dental clinics will be upgraded. In some areas of high dental need, additional dental therapists and dentists can now be employed; ensuring access to dental services becomes easier and more frequent.

“There will also be an increasing emphasis on preventing dental decay, more opportunities to deliver oral health education to the whole family.  It is also important for dental services to be accessible to all children including preschoolers and adolescents no longer attending school.

 
Dr Croucher says it’s an exciting time for school and community public dental services right across New Zealand.

“New Zealand has had a long and successful tradition of providing quality public sector dental care to schoolchildren going back as far as 1923 when the first school dental clinics were opened. However over time many of these clinics have become less conducive for providing modern dental care. Some school clinics are only used for a few months each year when the dental therapist team visits each school to provide annual check ups and dental treatment to children.”

While in Ashburton, Dr Croucher stated that the Ashburton community should reconsider its decision to remove fluoride from its reticulated water supply.

“The provision of good treatment services and facilities is never going to ‘cut the mustard’ when compared with the profound preventive effects water fluoridation can have to stop dental decay in the first place,” says Dr Croucher.

“We hope the Ashburton community will look at the issue of water fluoridation and consider reintroducing it as an important, safe and effective public health measure.”

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