A specialist dental surgical team visiting Alice Springs and a mobile dental clinic in the remote community of Kintore are just two of the initiatives improving the oral health of Central Australians.
The specialist dental team will care for forty Aboriginal children from across Central Australia in surgery at Alice Springs Hospital from 25 to 29 May. The visiting surgical team, from Westmead Hospital in Sydney, includes three Dentists, an Anaesthetist and Registrar, Nurses, and Dental Assistants.
This week's surgery is the fifth time a visiting Westmead team has provided services in the Northern Territory over the last 12 months.
Department Health & Families Chief Executive Dr David Ashbridge complimented the Westmead team, saying, "Their work has resulted in over 140 children receiving surgical services under general anaesthetic in Alice Springs, Gove, and Tennant Creek. The intensive dental surgery delivery model employed in the visits provides an outstanding precedent for future activity of this nature."
DHF Helping Hands Child Oral Health Project Manager, Julie Hornibrook, added that whilst surgery can be effective in treating acute dental problems, prevention is the best strategy. "Oral hygiene and a good diet are vital to the healthy development of children's teeth, which appear at between six and nine months."
In the remote Aboriginal community of Kintore, the mobile dental clinic initiated by DHF was handed over to the Pintupi Homelands Health Service this week.
Chairman of Pintupi Homelands Health, Andrew Tjapaltjarri Spencer, said, "It's a great opportunity for the people of Walungurru to improve their oral health and learn from a young age some good health habits.
"The staff of the Helping Hands Child Oral Health outreach team provided excellent care to the school children during a recent visit. Pintupi Homelands Health Service hopes this is a beginning of more scheduled and focused services to the Pintupi people, which will be more possible now that they have their own clinic on site at the health centre."
The surgery in Alice Springs and the portable dental clinic in Kintore are part of the Helping Hands Project funded by the Australian Government Intervention, which complements Central Australian oral health services that provide regular dental checks and referrals for children and adults.
Media contacts: Cameron Jackson, 0401 116 144; Darrel Trueman, 0401 116 203
Release date: Thursday 28 May 2009
