Kids in Flaxmere have more cavities compared to the rest of Hastings district. Photo / File
Most kids in Flaxmere have cavities in their teeth by the time they turn 5, data that sits in stark contrast with the rest of Hastings.
Hastings lost fluoride from its water when it was taken out to allow chlorine to be added after the Havelock North gastroenteritis outbreak in 2016.
Hawke's Bay District Health Board has been campaigning for fluoride to be returned since, but a Flaxmere councillor is in two minds about its return.
Data provided to Hawke's Bay Today under the Official Information Act shows Flaxmere children aged 5 are almost twice as likely as the rest of Hastings to have cavities in their teeth.
DHB's provider services' chief operating officer Chris Ash said two measures relating to child oral health were collected by the DHB's Community Oral Health Service - the percentage of decay-free children, and the number of decayed, missing and filled teeth.
This data is recorded at 5 - years-old, and at year 8 (approximately 12 years of age).
For the 2019/20 year the percentage of children that had decay-free teeth at age 5 years was 35.6 per cent in Flaxmere and 68.7 per cent in the rest of Hastings district.
Five-year-olds in Flaxmere had an average of 3.34 teeth decayed, missing or filled - in comparison a five year old from an area of Hastings that wasn't Flaxmere had an average of 1.15 teeth decayed, missing or filled.
In Flaxmere the percentage of children decay-free at Year 8 was 50 per cent, compared to and 73.4 for the rest of Hastings district.
The number of decayed, missing and filled teeth at Year 8 in Flaxmere averaged out at 1.07 teeth per person, compared to 0.54 for the rest of Hastings district.
Ash said overall Flaxmere children had "poorer oral health than the rest of the Hastings district".
"The DHB has a number of initiatives under way to reduce this gap in oral health status and is working closely with local communities,especially Māori and Pasifika to remove access barriers," he said.
"Initiatives include delivering a walk-in child dental service in Flaxmere for children aged between 1 and 18 years where no appointment is necessary, and working closely with primary health care providers and kaiawhina in the community to provide oral health care, advice and support that is whānau-focused and wellbeing-centric.
"The DHB is also working closely with Hastings District Council and is hopeful at least parts of the drinking water supply will have fluoride returned before 2021, with the entire network operating with fluoride by 2021."
The DHB's Chief Medical and Dental Officer Robin Whyman said it remained "concerned" that there has been no fluoride added to the Hastings drinking water supply since 2016.
He said by 2021, when Hastings District Council will have fluoride back in all its town water supplies it will mean some 5-year-old children have not ever had fluoride added to their drinking water.
He said that adding fluoride to the drinking water supply was highly cost-effective and remained the most equitable way to improve the oral health of communities.
Flaxmere councillor Henare O'Keefe said the addition of fluoride to the water by 2021 was something he was in two minds about.
"In as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out," he said.
"Personally I dislike any foreign substance being introduced to our water. I do not favour mass medication."
O'Keefe said sugar was a menace in impoverished communities like his.
"It's practically in everything we consume. In my opinion the sweeteners our children and adults alike consume, go in hand with poverty.
"It's cheap, quick, accessible and convenient. Hold these sugar pimps to account.
"For starters lets introduce a severe sugar tax. Healthy food is out of the price range of many whānau. The costs of dentists is just outlandish. The Westminster model is not working we are failing at a rapid rate."