Mobile dental unit a boost for teeth

Staff at the blessing of MidCentral Health Board's new mobile dental unit for children and young people. WGP 15Feb17 - STAFF at the blessing of MidCentral Health Board's new mobile dental unit for

A new state-of-the-art mobile dental unit for kids and young people has joined MidCentral District Health Board's fleet, to spread healthy grins throughout the district.

The new single chair unit has been named In for a Grin, and will join similar humorously named units Tooth Booth and Teeth R Us.

This mobile unit replaces a previous model and has several key improvements.

Clinical Director of Dental Services Dr Philip Marshall said the new mobile unit will serve the young people of the district well, with the bigger size alone making it more comfortable for patients, and giving staff more room to do their work.

"It also comes equipped with a screen by the operating chair, which will allow our dental team to view digital x-rays while they carry out procedures. This greatly improves productivity by allowing them to see what areas need working on as they go," he said.

"We've also had a lot of time with mobile units now, and this has given us a lot of experience in what works well and what doesn't. All that learning has been put into the design of this new unit to ensure it suits our needs perfectly. When all this is combined with Titanium, our new digital records system, our service is well positioned to continue providing high-quality care to all areas of the district."

Titanium is a big change to the service, as it allows digital records, including x-rays, to be accessed from any of MDHB's fixed or mobile clinics.

This means that, for example, if someone from Levin moves to another area, staff will be able to access all their records immediately, without having to transfer any paper records.

"Even more impressively, x-rays can now be done digitally on-site," said Dr Marshall.
"In the past they used to require development at Palmerston North Hospital, meaning a second appointment was needed. This can now be done on the spot."

MDHB claims the new unit will boost the capability of their dental service, and help them reduce the high number of appointments in arrears in recent months.

Contributing to this backlog was the loss of a previous mobile clinic after it was damaged in transit to a school last year.

MDHB's Child and Adolescent Oral Health Service currently operates seven fixed clinics in Levin, Palmerston North, Feilding and Dannevirke along with three two-chair and six single-chair clinics that move around the district and schools on a regular basis.