Dental programmes are bringing smiles back to Bay students

Students are reaping the benefits of new dental plans. Photo / File

Big moves are being made to help Bay of Plenty students missing out because of dental pain.

Murupara Area School principal Angela Sharples said dental pain affected student's education and futures but some innovative dental health schemes were making a difference.

"Dental pain was identified as a significant barrier to learning for students at Murupara Area School," she said.

"Not only is it frequently given as a reason for absence from school but children in pain struggle to concentrate in class and to learn.

"There are also significant barriers for accessing dental services for teens in Murupara. Not only is the nearest dentist 45 minutes' drive away in Rotorua but many families do not have access to a vehicle or the ability to cover the petrol costs for visits to town for dental care.

"As a consequence, dental care was not happening for many of our tauira (students) and ongoing dental pain was normal for many of our youth. The school has worked closely with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board to address these issues with access to dental care and address the disparity in health outcomes for our youth."

In 2017, just four students from Year 9 to 13 at Murupara Area School were being seen by a dentist, out of a total of 109 students. In 2020, three years later, that number had hit 100.

"Working alongside Absolute Dental, almost 100 per cent of Year 9 to 13 students from Murupara Area School were seen this year," Bay of Plenty District Health Board Community Health 4Kids health promotion officer Teneille Ogilvy said.

A number of factors frequently work against young people living in rural Eastern Bay communities regarding dental care.

"These can range from a lack of fluoridation of the local water supply, to geographic isolation, and poverty," Ogilvy said.

Dental assistant Chey Turei-Brown and Tarawera High student Majean Rogers, 17, who was winner of a weekly $50 prezzy card for attending a mobile dental unit appointments. Photo / Supplied

A number of initiatives have been developed to tackle these issues, including deploying mobile dental units at schools for extended periods of time; normally five weeks.

This type of scheme has been launched at both Murupara Area School and, most recently, at Tarawera High School.

It was also the approach first taken at Ōpōtiki College where, at the end of 2019, Te Manu Tora Dental Mobile Unit was onsite seeing all under 18s as well as a short, extended service seeing those up to 19.

Following on from this, the district health board worked alongside East Bay Dental Whakatāne offering dental services, including transporting Ōpōtiki College students suffering dental pain to Whakatāne for treatment.

The district health board also co-ordinated and transported students requiring dental care from Te Kura Mana Maori o Whangaparaoa (Cape Runaway) to East Bay Dental Whakatāne.

"It's all about partnership," Ogilvy said.

"So that's partnership with the schools, dental practices, whānau, iwi and the local community in general. Everyone has to be on the same page for these types of initiatives to work and we've been really fortunate in that regard. Everyone recognises the importance of this work.

"Our intentions are to provide accessible dental care to students.

"It is hoped that with the ease of these services for them that rates for students seeing their local dentists will dramatically improve."

Community Health 4 Kids regional manager Martin Steinmann said the key focus for him was equity.

"It's about delivering services closer to home and the BOPDHB working in partnership with schools, private practice dentists, the community, other government agencies and other providers to lessen or remove barriers that prevent access to free health services," he said.

"It is all heavily based on goodwill, whanaungatanga, kotahitanga and manaakitanga. This is a perfect example of the BOPDHB CARE (Compassion, All-one-team, Responsive, Excellence) values being applied in the community healthcare setting."