Australia - Tooth decay rampant among children: survey
Tooth decay rampant among children: survey
The World Today - Monday, 17 December , 2007 12:50:00
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
BRIGID GLANVILLE: A new survey shows that half of all six-year-olds in Australia have tooth decay. The survey was conducted by the University of Adelaide for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It found there's been a five per cent increase in tooth decay in young children, partly due to lack of access to public dental health care. But it's also found that adding fluoride to the water supply does help in fighting against tooth decay. Jennifer Macey reports.JENNIFER MACEY: Every second six-year-old child in Australia has a decayed, missing or filled baby tooth. And on average every 12-year-old has cavities in their adult teeth. These are the latest findings in a report by the Australian Health and Welfare Institute. The report's author, Jason Armfield, says there's been a steady increase in dental disease among children. JASON ARMFIELD: Since the mid 1990s amongst younger children we've seen a steady increase, year by year by year, and we're also starting to see increases now amongst older children too which is a little bit of a concern. So child oral health in Australia is actually getting worse.JENNIFER MACEY: Mr Armfield says there's a strong link between child tooth decay and the socio-economic status of families. JASON ARMFIELD: Children from lower socio-economic groups generally have poorer exposure to fluorides, they have a higher exposure to sugary foods, poor foods, and they're also likely to be seeing a dentist less often.JENNIFER MACEY: The new Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, says the previous government failed to adequately fund public dental health care.She says the Government has committed $29- million extra into the public dental health care scheme.NICOLA ROXON: But we've also established and are in the process of making sure this can roll out in the new year, a teen dental program which will provide $150 to parents to ensure that their teenagers do go and have a regular, preventative check up, make sure that their teeth are being cared for properly, and to get that information about the way food and drink can affect your teeth, and to make sure they're being cared for in a way which will prevent these sorts of declining results.JENNIFER MACEY: But the Australian Dental Association says this won't be enough to fix the problem.The Association's President is Dr. John Matthews.JOHN MATTHEWS: The dental spend is $5-billion so we're talking about actually $100-million a year, that $290 is over three years. They've also, in the teen dental plan there's over $500-million again over about four years. So they're putting about $250-million a year out of $5-billion. It's not huge but it's a significant step and if they doubled it I think they could make a huge difference.JENNIFER MACEY: He says the Government should reintroduce the free dental clinics that used to make the rounds of all primary schools.JOHN MATTHEWS: School dental service was a fantastic service to the community and we'd love to see it strengthened again. We've got a Federal Government who's talking about helping out in these areas. They've got a teen dental plan. So we'd love to see that sort of all go on the table and see that restored to its former glory.JENNIFER MACEY: The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) also supports the return of the free school dental service.The council's President, Lin Hatfield Dodds, says poor oral health in early years often flows through to dental problems in adult life. LIN HATFIELD DODDS: But we'd also like to see the Government roll out a free preventative course of treatments for adults every two years. We've costed that at $800-million from the Commonwealth and matched funding from the States. And when you think about 650,000 people on waiting lists, that's not a huge investment to address that really serious issue of poor oral health for children and for adults.BRIGID GLANVILLE: Lin Hadfield Dodds, ACOSS President, ending that report by Jennifer Macey.
The World Today - Monday, 17 December , 2007 12:50:00
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
BRIGID GLANVILLE: A new survey shows that half of all six-year-olds in Australia have tooth decay. The survey was conducted by the University of Adelaide for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It found there's been a five per cent increase in tooth decay in young children, partly due to lack of access to public dental health care. But it's also found that adding fluoride to the water supply does help in fighting against tooth decay. Jennifer Macey reports.JENNIFER MACEY: Every second six-year-old child in Australia has a decayed, missing or filled baby tooth. And on average every 12-year-old has cavities in their adult teeth. These are the latest findings in a report by the Australian Health and Welfare Institute. The report's author, Jason Armfield, says there's been a steady increase in dental disease among children. JASON ARMFIELD: Since the mid 1990s amongst younger children we've seen a steady increase, year by year by year, and we're also starting to see increases now amongst older children too which is a little bit of a concern. So child oral health in Australia is actually getting worse.JENNIFER MACEY: Mr Armfield says there's a strong link between child tooth decay and the socio-economic status of families. JASON ARMFIELD: Children from lower socio-economic groups generally have poorer exposure to fluorides, they have a higher exposure to sugary foods, poor foods, and they're also likely to be seeing a dentist less often.JENNIFER MACEY: The new Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, says the previous government failed to adequately fund public dental health care.She says the Government has committed $29- million extra into the public dental health care scheme.NICOLA ROXON: But we've also established and are in the process of making sure this can roll out in the new year, a teen dental program which will provide $150 to parents to ensure that their teenagers do go and have a regular, preventative check up, make sure that their teeth are being cared for properly, and to get that information about the way food and drink can affect your teeth, and to make sure they're being cared for in a way which will prevent these sorts of declining results.JENNIFER MACEY: But the Australian Dental Association says this won't be enough to fix the problem.The Association's President is Dr. John Matthews.JOHN MATTHEWS: The dental spend is $5-billion so we're talking about actually $100-million a year, that $290 is over three years. They've also, in the teen dental plan there's over $500-million again over about four years. So they're putting about $250-million a year out of $5-billion. It's not huge but it's a significant step and if they doubled it I think they could make a huge difference.JENNIFER MACEY: He says the Government should reintroduce the free dental clinics that used to make the rounds of all primary schools.JOHN MATTHEWS: School dental service was a fantastic service to the community and we'd love to see it strengthened again. We've got a Federal Government who's talking about helping out in these areas. They've got a teen dental plan. So we'd love to see that sort of all go on the table and see that restored to its former glory.JENNIFER MACEY: The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) also supports the return of the free school dental service.The council's President, Lin Hatfield Dodds, says poor oral health in early years often flows through to dental problems in adult life. LIN HATFIELD DODDS: But we'd also like to see the Government roll out a free preventative course of treatments for adults every two years. We've costed that at $800-million from the Commonwealth and matched funding from the States. And when you think about 650,000 people on waiting lists, that's not a huge investment to address that really serious issue of poor oral health for children and for adults.BRIGID GLANVILLE: Lin Hadfield Dodds, ACOSS President, ending that report by Jennifer Macey.
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