Better dental service a long way off, says NZ First

The Government's vision of a seamless community dental service for children and teenagers is still "a long way from reality", New Zealand First health spokeswoman Barbara Stewart says.

The Government announced yesterday it intends to transform the existing School Dental Service into a new beefed up community-based service in a bid to stem rising rates of child tooth decay.

About $40 million set aside in the budget to rebuild state-funded dental services over the next four years will go into the new Community Oral Health Services, which ministers said would be more visible, better resourced and open for longer hours than the school service.

District Health Boards (DHBs) would run the services and could apply for funding from November.

But Ms Stewart said handing the service over to DHBs would create delays and cloud accountability.

Uncertainty about the plans "should send a shiver down the spine of any parent with children whose teeth need care".

"It will be interesting to see how long it takes after the unveiling of the vision for there to be any actual treatment available to many of the children whose teeth have been woefully neglected for the past few years," she said.

"As usual the responsibility for implementing the plan has been thrown back on the DHBs ... no doubt any delays will be all their fault."

Under the Government plan some clinics will remain on school properties if that is the best option for the community.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson said the clinics would be staffed by dental therapists -- formerly known as dental nurses -- although there were likely to be some dentists in larger clinics.

The changes followed the Government's re-establishment of training for dental therapists, which was cut in the 1990s, and the commitment of $100m over five years to new capital spending on facilities.

Mr Hodgson said tailoring services to Maori, Pacific Island and rural children, who all had higher rates of fillings, would be a priority under the new plan.

Latest figures, for 2004, show about 52 per cent of five-year-olds were free of decay. However that figure is down on the 1990s.

- NZPA