Teenagers fail to make use of free visits to the dentist because dental care is viewed as uncool, a University of Otago study has found.
The findings emerged after a study to uncover why Otago teenagers appeared reluctant to have the free dental treatment they are eligible for until the ageof 18.
Researchers from the departments of oral health and anthropology ran focus groups with Otago teenagers in rural and urban areas and found students were aware of what was required for good oral health (such as teeth brushing and visits to the dentist), but for a variety of reasons were not making good use of the free care.
"Being seen to be concerned about oral health in this contemporary youth culture is considered to be 'just so gay', defined as boring, pointless or irrelevant," the report says.
The principal finding of the report, co-authored by oral sciences professor Murray Thomson, was that teenagers believed oral health was trivial, time-wasting and boring, "and experienced by them as slightly coercive in nature".
"To engage in oral health care is to flirt with a slightly feminised and somewhat stigmatised set of practices and all of the adolescents with whom we spoke had very fixed opinions of whether or not they would participate in such a regime," the report says.
Another factor in non-attendance was the perception about the cost of dental care.
Although care was free until they were 18, many pupils had pre-existing perceptions about the cost in the future.
Report co-author, anthropologist Ruth Fitzgerald, said many of the participants, particularly those from low socio-economic groups, seemed resigned to not being able to afford long-term dental care.
Because of that they saw little point in utilising the free care.
"They seem to have taken on the values of their parents that it is too expensive and they don't want to bother with it," she said.
The research involved 140 pupils from 14 schools, training centres or agencies.
The report was commissioned by the Otago District Health Board as part of the South Island regional co-ordination service for oral health.
