The Star: September 08, 2016

14
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Thursday September 8 2016
News
The Star
Getting to the root of Canterbury
By the time an average
Canterbury child turns
five, they will have
had at least one tooth
decayed, extracted
or filled. Gabrielle
Stuart looked into the
problem, and the work
local groups are doing
to turn it around
FOUR-YEAR-OLD Leah
Gibbons is proud of her sparkly
white teeth.
Some of her peers are not so
lucky.
One in every three children in
Christchurch will have problems
with their teeth before they start
school – a filling needed, or even
rotten teeth removed.
In the worst cases local dentists
have seen, pre-schoolers
have had to have all their teeth
removed.
Some pre-schoolers are already
so self-conscious about their
teeth, they are afraid to smile.
Fizzy and sugary drinks – now
often cheaper than buying water
– take a share of the blame, as
do a lack of regular brushing
SMILES: Four-year-old Walnut Tree Preschool children Ayla Kittelty, Tyson Taukiri and Leah
Gibbons have been to their dental check-ups – but many of their peers have missed out.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
or missed dental appointments
which could have caught problems
early.
But missing appointments did
not mean someone was a bad
parent, CDHB community and
public health advisory committee
member Rochelle Faimalo
said.
“A lot of the hubs are open
during school hours, which
makes it very hard for working
parents,” she said.
As a busy parent, it was easy to
lose track of when children were
due for check-ups, she said.
Part of the problem is families
falling through the cracks in the
dental system.
Pre-schoolers are supposed to
have free dental check-ups each
year, when they are two, three
and four, and then when they
start school.
BY THE NUMBERS:
•One in every three
Canterbury children will
have problems with their
teeth, from cavities to
extractions, by the time
they start school
•The average Canterbury
pre-schooler will have
problems with one tooth,
a Māori child two teeth,
and a Pasifika child three
•One in every six preschoolers
had their dental
enrolments cancelled
because their family
could not be contacted –
1184 children in total.
•The CDHB aims to
have 95 per cent of
preschoolers enrolled in
dental services. Last year
just 61 per cent were, a
drop from 69 per cent in
2014
Under the current system,
families are called three times
within the space of a month to
remind them of a check-up.
But if they don’t respond or
can’t be reached within that
time, they are cut from the
system.
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