Rural children suffer poorer oral health

The State of Victoria's Children Report (October 2006) identified that children living in rural areas were more likely to have poor oral health, with more toothache and fillings and more tooth extraction and dental treatment in hospital, than their metropolitan peers.

While the report generally tells a good news story about how Victoria’s children are faring against a broad range of measures of health and wellbeing, safety, development and learning, it also highlights some newly emerging health concerns affecting children and young people, such as obesity, eating disorders and mental ill health.

In her introduction to the report, The Hon Sherryl Garbutt, then Minister for Children and Minister for Community Services noted that "It shows that not all children in Victoria are faring as well as broad statewide data suggest. The evidence shows there are inequalities in outcome for different groups of children, and clearly points to a need for policies to tackle these."

Children from rural areas had almost twice as many teeth extracted and required hospital admission and treatment under general anaesthetic twice as often as those from metropolitan areas.

The report notes that "oral health guidelines for Victorians 2003 include the following recommendations for oral health:
• Drink plenty of tap water.
• Limit consumption and frequency of sugary drinks (milk or flavoured milks are preferable to sugary drinks).
• Teeth should be cleaned at least twice a day.
• Children should use low fluoride toothpaste from two to seven years of age.
• An adult should assist a child aged under seven years of age to brush his or her teeth."

During the forthcoming Federal election VOHA will be seeking commitments from candidates to introduce polices that will help to address the serious disadvantage experienced by rural children.