As Heathcote continues to fall behind the rest of the state when it comes to oral health, The Nationals’ Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, has called for government dental health initiatives to be extended to all local students.
Programs like Smile Squad currently offer free oral health promotion, dental check-ups, and treatment to Victorian government school students, but it is not expected to be rolled out in low-fee Catholic and Independent schools until at least 2026.
Ms Cleeland recently wrote to the Minister for Health asking that this program be extended into non-government schools in Heathcote as a matter of priority.
“As things stand, this free program is only accessible to students at government schools, despite towns like Heathcote having significantly worse dental health outcomes than the rest of the state,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Heathcote’s non-government schools are not privileged private schools like those in Melbourne. St Mary’s in Heathcote has 86 per cent of their students in the lowest quartiles when it comes to disadvantage and Holy Rosary has 74 percent in the same quartiles.
“While Heathcote remains without fluoridated water and the Allan Labor Government refuses to address this, Smile Squad will be of particular benefit to health of local children.”
According to Dental Health Services Victoria, the average number of decayed, missing or filled teeth for children in Heathcote was 2.08 among children aged 0-5 (state average: 1.21), 3.00 for children aged 6-8 (state average 2.35), and 2.96 for children aged 9-12 (state average 1.51). Among adults, the average number of missing teeth due to dental decay is also higher.
Additionally, community members have limited access to paid dental services and must travel approximately 50 kilometres for appointments.
“Delayed treatment leads to a whole range of adverse health outcomes and entrenched health disadvantages for kids growing up in towns like Heathcote, and this needs to be addressed absolutely immediately,” Ms Cleeland said.
“For the sake of children in the region, addressing the dental health of all students in Heathcote is something that must be looked at immediately by this government.”
