School dental clinics isolated and unsafe

Low salaries and ageing dental therapists are critical issues in a review of the School Dental Services, says the Public Service Association.

The union, which represents 575 therapists working for the service, said yesterday that the consultation brief for the Health Ministry review announced this week did not go far enough.

The PSA agreed with the report released by the Dental Therapy Technical Advisory Group that many clinics were unsafe, with ageing equipment.

However, low salaries, recruitment and retention of dental therapists, and "unsatisfactory and dangerous working conditions" were just as critical, PSA organiser John Shennan said.

"The clinics are dilapidated, isolated, with only one way in and out, and do not allow our therapists to practise safely," he said.

The PSA wanted consultation to cover the large number of therapists approaching retirement age, and the profile of the profession, which needed to be made more attractive for young people, Maori and Pacific Islands people.

The Health Ministry announced on Monday that district health boards would review the way school dental clinics were run.

Only 45 per cent of primary and intermediate schools had a fixed on-site clinic, many of which were not designed for modern dentistry, the ministry said.

About 40 mobile dental units provided care to children at kindergartens and schools.

Chief adviser on oral health Clive Wright said the School Dental Service, created in 1921, faced major challenges for the future.

Over the next three months, health boards would consult local communities and school boards of trustees on proposed changes.

One problem facing the service was the split in responsibilities between the education and health sectors, Dr Wright said.

In 2004 the School Dental Service was caring for more than 500,000 children from age 2 to intermediate school age - around 95 per cent of children in the country age group.

Auckland University of Technology, the country's largest provider of degree-level dental therapy education, yesterday welcomed the review.

Professor Max Abbott, the university's dean of health, said New Zealand was facing an oral health crisis.

"Oral health standards have deteriorated in some Maori and lower socioeconomic communities and could get worse if more is not done quickly."

Completing fluoridation of the country's water supplies was important, he said.

The dental therapist workforce had also reduced from about 900 to 500. Government funding for dental therapist education was a fraction of what was provided for dentists, Professor Abbott said. "Yet the costs for staff, specialist facilities, equipment and consumables are similar."

- NZPA