About 50 per cent of Kiwi kids overdue for dental checkups

Some children could be waiting up to two or three years for their next dental checkup as the impact of Covid creates a large backlog for community oral health services. Photo / Brett Phibbs

About half of Kiwi kids are estimated to be missing out on having annual checkups at community dental centres as the effects of lockdown mean the kids with the highest risk of tooth decay are prioritised.

Last year almost a quarter of children enrolled at a community oral health service were overdue for their scheduled appointments, and due to the impacts of Covid-19 the number is likely to be much higher this year.

The Ministry of Health is warning it could "take some time" for the level of service to return to pre-Covid levels.

The NZ Dental Association says waiting up to two to three years for an appointment is too long and is calling on the Ministry of Health to change its funding rules so private dentists can help to ease the burden.

Association president Katie Ayers said the NZDA had already raised the issue about children being overdue for their checkups about two years ago and lockdown had only exacerbated

the problem.

Ayers, a Hamilton-based paediatric dentist, said while there had been no official figures released it was her understanding that only about half of Kiwi kids had their annual checkup and the other 50 per cent were still waiting.

While the average call-back time was 12 months, some district health boards were calling back low-risk children only every 18 months, which under the current circumstances could result in them only being seen two or three years later, Ayers said.

"Children can be experiencing pain, have significant levels of decay, could have erupted new teeth with significant problems, so in my view that is just too long for children to be waiting."

Only last week she had seen a 7-year old at her private practice who to her caregiver's knowledge had never been to a dental therapist and required comprehensive work under general anaesthetic - something the child would have had to wait a year for under the public system.

Private dentists - including Ayers' only clinic - were also seeing a substantial

rise in the number of children visiting their clinics because they couldn't be seen by the community oral health service and their parents were prepared to pay the fee of about $150.

Under the current criteria, the Government will fund children visiting a private clinic only if they have an acute issue and cannot get into their community clinic. The ministry said it was up to each DHB to decided the level and mix of services they provide with the funding allocated.

The NZDA last week wrote to Dr Riana Clarke, the ministry's national clinical director of oral health, suggesting some options to help ease the backlog and get children seen in a more timely matter.

Among the options presented to the Government are bringing forward the age children are released from the community oral health programme from Year 9 by one or two years, or seeing children who have a known issue but can't get an appointment with their community clinic.

Clarke said the community oral health services, run by the DHBs, were actively addressing the impact Covid has had on overdue examinations, including forming a cross-DHB working group to share ideas and innovations.

Under Covid alert levels 3 and 4 scheduled examinations were deferred and only emergency and urgent treatment was carried out, causing a lot of appointments to be deferred.

Once services resumed under level 2, children who have a high risk of dental decay were prioritised.

Clark warned it could "take some time to return service delivery and the level of overdue examinations to pre-pandemic levels". "During this time DHBs will maintain a particular focus on children who have a high risk of dental decay."

Parents or caregivers who had immediate concerns about their child's teeth or if their child was in pain should contact their local community oral health service to discuss it or if their child was in pain they could make an appointment with their GP.