Stewart Barbara: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Stewart Barbara: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:617;Page:12716] 
12.  
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Is she concerned that over one-half of New Zealand 5-year-old children living in poorer communities have dental decay; if so what does she intend to do about this? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Yes I am concerned. This Government has undertaken a number of measures to address this problem. We have a 100 percent subsidy now available for the fluoridation of water supplies. We have increased the number of dental therapists in training. For example there were only nine or fewer dental therapists in training up until this year. At the end of this year 35 new graduates will graduate. We have established mobile bus dental services and we have made dental health a priority in the New Zealand Health Strategy. 
Barbara Stewart 
: Will the Minister ensure that all primary schoolchildren continue to receive a regular annual dental check by the school dental service given that the incidence of dental decay is increasing? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: That is certainly the aim of every region in New Zealand. At times patients are not seen within that year. Sometimes that is appropriate—an annual recall is not necessary for everybody—but in the main an annual recall is a good thing to aim for. However as I pointed out there are resource constraints in terms of dental therapists. If we train only nine per year we will have a decreasing workforce. We have certainly taken hold of that and addressed it. 
Mark Peck 
: What is the most effective action that can be taken to improve dental health in children? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Without doubt the most effective action is the fluoridation of water supplies. Research carried out in New Zealand in 2000 showed that even the smallest water supplies can benefit from fluoridation. I have been a strong supporter of fluoridation throughout New Zealand and I have been very pleased with the support I have received particularly from our health professionals. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: After 4 long years under Labour why are so many children who were born while Mrs King has been Minister of Health seriously affected by dental decay; and after all her previous rhetoric why does she not resign over her failure to be effective for this huge number of children? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have put a considerable amount of effort into improving the oral health services of New Zealanders. I am just really sad that the National Party in Government thought so little of oral health that it allowed the training of therapists to reduce to nine per year to replace the workforce. It is very hard to provide a comprehensive service if we do not have the dental therapists. However we are seeing improvement in terms of the ability to provide that service because of things like mobile services. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree with comments from the New Zealand Dental Association’s executive director Dr David Crum that New Zealand’s very poor record of improving children’s oral health is due to the failure of parents to take adequate responsibility for their children’s health; if so what is she doing to address the need to support and educate parents on what they can do? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Dr Crum makes a very important point. Part of the solution is to educate parents in terms of their children’s health. Dr Hutchison believes that I ought to be in everybody’s home preventing caries. That is absolutely impossible. Parents need to be involved in this process and so do the services we provide. 
Heather Roy 
: When the Minister started practising as a dental nurse was the position referred to in the primary question the same better or worse than it is now; and how much has children’s dental decay improved over her 5 years as Minister of Health? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I can tell the member that when I trained as a school dental nurse the number of missing filled and decayed teeth was over five per child in New Zealand. The number is now considerably less. Unfortunately the legacy of those years can be seen in many of the mouths we see up and down the streets of New Zealand. The position has improved but in pockets of New Zealand especially in areas where there is deprivation we have much higher levels of decay. 
Dail Jones 
: What steps is the Minister taking to encourage people to undertake dental studies by making living allowances available to students so that they are not discouraged by large student loans? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: One of the first actions this Government took on becoming Government was to reduce the fees paid by dental students which had been very high under the previous Government. We reduced them because fees were a barrier. We are not having great difficulty in recruiting for the 35 positions in dental therapy. I think that dental students face similar problems to other students and some of that will be addressed in the Budget. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: I seek leave to table a  
Daily News 
 article of this year that demonstrates that a huge number of under-5-year-olds are riddled with dental caries. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that article. Is there any objection? There is.