YUILLE Park Community College principal Brett Shillito says on-site, free dental care could make great health and well-being impacts on pupils. Mr Shillito welcomes moves that have put the spotlight back on a touted return of dental buses.
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Labor has promised the free dental care at all state primary and secondary schools should it be re-elected to government on Saturday.
Mr Shillito said such on-site programs, irrespective of government, helped improving accessibility for families particularly in communities with barriers financially and in reaching external services.
“It’s really well-known good dental hygiene has an impact on your health in the long term,” Mr Shillito said. “Anything that can get those good preventative measures in place, working in that space, will certainly allow this community in particular the support they need for better general health and well-being in the long-term.”
Yuille Park runs a well-established brekky club, driven by school families, with a focus on health and nutrition. A school cafe and cooking program is also open to the community on Thursdays.
Mr Shillito said extra dental care support and education would help value-add to the community focus.
Children aged under 12 are eligible for government-funded healthcare but less than 20 per cent of children use the program, according to the government.
Yuille Park has facilities for a dental clinic, run via Ballarat Health Services, but lacks staffing leaving families to instead access the public dental clinic in Sebastopol.
Three in five Grampians children are presenting to public dental clinics with tooth decay, clear above the state average of 50 per cent, according to figures from Dental Health Services Victoria earlier this year. Only 50 per cent of Australians brush day and night to prevent oral disease.
Under Labor’s dental van plan, children can access education, check-ups, X-rays, cleaning, dental seals, fillings, root canals and impressions for mouth guards.
The $395.8 million promise aims to equip 250 new dental vans on the road by 2022.
Labor candidates Juliana Addison (Wendouree) and Michaela Settle (Buninyong) said this was a game-changer for public health for families across Victoria.
The plan will offer free dental care to more than 23,000 children across western Victoria.
Labor says it would review the program in 2021, potentially expanding to service low-fee Catholic school and independent schools.
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