Dental health of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory Findings from the Closing the Gap Program March 2011 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra Cat. no. IHW 41 The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is Australia’s national health and welfare statistics and information agency. The Institute’s mission is better information and statistics for better health and wellbeing. © Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be directed to the Head of the Communications, Media and Marketing Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, GPO Box 570, Canberra ACT 2601. A complete list of the Institute’s publications is available from the Institute’s website <www.aihw.gov.au>. ISBN 978-1-74249-127-1 Suggested citation Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011. Dental health of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory: findings from the Closing the Gap Program. Cat. no. IHW 41. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Board Chair Hon. Peter Collins, AM, QC Director David Kalisch Any enquiries about or comments on this publication should be directed to: Head, Indigenous Determinants and Outcomes unit Australian Institute of Health and Welfare GPO Box 570 Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: (02) 6244 1162 Email: [email protected] Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Printed by Homestead Press Please note that there is the potential for minor revisions of data in this report. Please check the online version at <www.aihw.gov.au> for any amendments. Contents Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... vi Summary ............................................................................................................................................. vii About this report ......................................................................................................................... vii Key findings ................................................................................................................................. vii 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 NT DoH dental services and infrastructure ............................................................... 2 1.1.2 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations dental services ........... 3 1.2 Dental data collection .............................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Report overview and structure .............................................................................................. 5 2 Preventative interventions and health promotion .................................................................. 6 2.1 Fluoride varnish ....................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 School-based toothbrushing programs ................................................................................. 6 2.3 Other oral health promotion activities .................................................................................. 7 3 Dental service delivery ................................................................................................................. 8 3.1 Dental services provided and children who received services.......................................... 8 3.2 Demographic characteristics of children who received dental services ........................... 9 3.3 Type of dental services provided ......................................................................................... 10 3.4 Subsequent dental services ................................................................................................... 11 3.4.1 Subsequent dental services received ......................................................................... 11 4 Dental referrals from CHC and service provision ................................................................ 15 4.1 Dental services received by children with a referral ......................................................... 15 4.2 Dental care pathway for children ........................................................................................ 16 4.3 Challenges to follow-up dental care .................................................................................... 17 5 Oral health status of children receiving dental services ...................................................... 20 5.1 Dental problems treated ........................................................................................................ 20 5.2 DMFT/dmft results ............................................................................................................... 20 5.2.1 DMFT/dmft by age ..................................................................................................... 22 5.2.2 DMFT/dmft by region ................................................................................................ 22 5.2.3 Northern Territory, national and international comparisons ................................ 23 5.3 Oral health and growth problems........................................................................................ 24 5.4 Oral health of Indigenous children ...................................................................................... 26 iii Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 31 References ............................................................................................................................................ 33 iv Acknowledgments This report was produced jointly by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) and the Australian Institute of Welfare (AIHW). Tim Adair, Bin Tong, Ruth Penm, Ian Oyston and Jan Watson of the AIHW Indigenous Determinants and Outcomes Unit are the major contributors responsible for the analyses, interpretation and presentation of the report. Fadwa Al-Yaman and Indrani Pieris-Caldwell are specifically thanked for their guidance and invaluable comments in the production of this report. The Northern Territory Department of Health (NT DoH) provided Section 1.1.1 and Chapter 2 of the report. The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) also contributed to the report’s Summary and Background. Special thanks go to the many clinicians and administrators who supported this data collection while also providing complex clinical services in remote locations across the Northern Territory. Comments received from the members of the Monitoring and Evaluation Memorandum of Understanding Committee for the Northern Territory Primary Health Care Expansion and Reform are also gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Associate Professor Kaye Roberts-Thomson from the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, the University of Adelaide for reviewing and commenting on the draft report. Funding to support the data collection and report production was provided through DoHA. v Abbreviations ACCHO Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare CHC Child Health Check CHCI Child Health Check Initiative CtG Closing the Gap dmft decayed, missing or filled teeth (deciduous) DMFT decayed, missing or filled teeth (permanent) DoHA Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing HRN hospital registration number NTER Northern Territory Emergency Response NPA National Partnership Agreement NT Northern Territory NT DoH Northern Territory Department of Health OHSNT Oral Health Services-Northern Territory RAHC Remote Area Health Corps vi Summary About this report This report presents findings from the dental follow-up data collection that was established as part of the Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory National Partnership Agreement (NPA) between the Australian and Northern Territory governments to monitor dental services in communities in prescribed areas of the Northern Territory. These findings can be used to support public accountability for the delivery of dental services provided through the NPA. The report provides information on the following aspects of dental services delivered from August 2007 to June 2010, including the: • amount and types of dental services provided; • extent of follow-up care provided to children with dental referrals; • oral health status of children who received dental services. Key findings There are some data limitations that affect the findings of this report. Although the data collection covered the majority of dental services, it does not contain information on