Improving Oral Health Care for Aboriginal
Children
South Western Sydney Local Health
District
Aboriginal children have high prevalence of dental decay with many
requiring hospitalisation for treatment. Compounding the situation is the
limited oral health awareness among Aboriginal families and access to dental
services. To address these issues, partnerships were formed between South
Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD), Western Sydney University/University of NSW and Aboriginal organisations
(KARI/Tharawal AMS) to raise
oral health awareness among Aboriginal children through field/case workers,
culturally-sensitive oral health promotional material and dental referral
pathways to SWSLHD.
To date, there has been a 41%
increase in the number of parents receiving information about childhood oral
health and 20% improvement in their oral health knowledge. Further, 211
Aboriginal children accessed SWSLHD to receive oral assessment (66%),
restorative work for dental decay (15%) and preventative treatment to minimise
future dental decay (58%).