"Very concerning" numbers of Wanganui children miss dental appointments every year, a local health leader says.
More than 10,000 children failed to turn up to appointments between January 2013 and July 24 this year, the Whanganui District Health Board's records show.
"Every missed appointment is a missed opportunity to supporta child and family in maintaining good oral health," the DHB's child and youth portfolio manager Jon Buchan said.
"We try to get children into our oral health service from 6 months of age. Even gummy little babies are at risk of oral health problems from the likes of unpleasant bacteria entering their mouth.
"It's very concerning if a significant number of children aren't going through our services."
Mr Buchan said some appointments were rescheduled. In other cases it was likely parents and caregivers did not realise children should be taken to a dental professional before they had teeth.
"Speaking from personal experience, it never occurred to me for a moment until I had children," he said. "It never really occurred to me that putting dummies in and out of babies' mouths, kissing babies and so on could affect their oral health."
Access was also a factor. "Accessing appointments can be hard," Mr Buchan said. "Wanganui has a large rural area. For families with no transport or only one mode of transport and one family member's taken the transport to work, it can be hard for them to just come in.
"We have to be thoughtful and keeping coming up with ways to limit access issues, as we do with all areas of health."
Mr Buchan expected if Wanganui's water was fluoridated, as in some other areas, "it would be another tool or factor to help with tooth decay".
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health's latest health survey found 83.8 per cent of New Zealand children aged 1-14 visited a dentist in the 2014 financial year. That was 2.5 per cent more than in 2013 and 8.1 per cent more than in 2007.
Despite improvements, children aged 1-4 were much less likely to have visited a dentist in the 12 months than those of school age, with only 59 per cent attending.
