Improve Oral Health - DHB Toolkit

Improve Oral Health
DHB Toolkit

Date of publication: January 2004

Summary of publication

This toolkit is designed to assist district health boards to implement The New Zealand Health Strategy priority population health objective: to improve oral health.

The current pattern of dental disease in New Zealand has three noteworthy characteristics. First, tooth decay has reduced due to water fluoridation and the use of fluorides in other forms. Second, a concurrent attitudinal change has meant that more people choose to keep their teeth. Third, even though disease has fallen, large groups in the community still have high levels of disease.

District Health Boards (DHBs) need to work proactively with their communities and local councils to support the introduction of water fluoridation to those communities that do not currently receive fluoridated water.

The oral health of all New Zealanders, and of children in particular, would be enhanced with the implementation of appropriate preventive strategies.

Treatment services will never successfully tackle the underlying cause of oral disease. Oral health inequalities will only be reduced through effective preventive strategies and the implementation of effective and appropriate oral health promotion policies. A health promotion approach that recognises the importance of tackling the underlying social and environmental determinants of oral health is needed.

To be effective, individual prevention strategies also need to be delivered in ways appropriate to the priority groups of Māori, Pacific peoples and families with low socioeconomic status.

DHBs must begin improving access to the school dental service. A major focus is needed on enrolment, identification and more intensive care of children with a higher risk of developing dental caries. Guidelines have been developed for the school dental service to improve preventive, diagnostic and treatment services, and to make them more equitable.

Publicly funded oral health care has been extended to adolescents up to the age of 18 years. DHBs must work with oral health providers to increase the proportion of adolescents who access oral health services.

Download this publication

The publication is available in Word format below:

Improve Oral Health Toolkit (Word, 370 KB)

Resources linked to from the toolkit are available below:

People’s use of services:

Health status:

Diagnostic and treatment services:

Direct Placement Restorative Materials for Use in Posterior Teeth: The Current Options - Karl Lyons (PDF, 37 KB)

Adolescent Eligibility for Funded Oral Health Care:

Reporting on Child Oral Health Data:

Risk Assessment and Recall Intervals

Guidelines on Radiography (PDF, 158 KB)

Read our copyright information

Go to information about ordering and downloading publications

Related information

Oral Health