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Figure 5.5.4 Hospital dental procedure rates for children aged 2–14 years,by type of procedure and sex, 2002-03a, b, c, d, e700Indigenous maleIndigenous femaleNon-Indigenous maleNon-Indigenous femalePer 100 000 children6005004003002001000Extraction Pulpal care Restoration Othera Error bars represent 95 per cent confidence intervals around each estimate. b Extraction procedures areperformed to remove decayed, damaged, malformed, or malpositioned teeth. c Pulpal care refers toprocedures carried out on the soft inner structure of a tooth, consisting of nerve and blood vessels.d Restoration procedures involve placing a material in a tooth to restore function and morphology when toothstructure has been lost due to decay or fracture (generally, because of extensive caries), or to improve theaesthetics of the tooth. e Other includes the provision of splints, crowns or bridges.Source: Jamieson and Roberts-Thomson (2006); table 5A.5.9.• Extraction is an invasive procedure used on patients with excessive decay (thatis, when multiple teeth are affected or when time constraints preclude morecomprehensive care) (Jamieson and Roberts-Thomson 2006). For Indigenousand non-Indigenous children, the rate of extraction procedures was greater thanany other procedure rate presented in figure 5.5.4.• For ‘extraction’ and ‘restoration’ procedures, rates for Indigenous males andfemales were greater than the rates for these procedures for non-Indigenousmales and females (figure 5.5.4). The rate of ‘extraction’ procedures forIndigenous males was 1.3 times the rate for non-Indigenous males.• For ‘pulpal’ and ‘other’ procedures, the rates for Indigenous males and femaleswere less than the rates for these procedures for non-Indigenous males andfemales (figure 5.5.4).5.46 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007