Thousands of NSW schoolchildren are lining up to have their teeth checked in a new free dental program visiting the State’s primary schools as of last week.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Minister for Health and Medical Research, Brad Hazzard and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, Sarah Mitchell officially launched the NSW Health Primary School Mobile Dental Program at Penrith South Public School.
Ms Berejiklian said 35 mobile dental clinics would provide checks and basic dental care to up to 136,000 primary school children, made possible by an allocation of $70 million over four years.
“The mobile dental program builds on existing NSW public dental services that make dental care available to all Medicare eligible children for free,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“This program will bring NSW Health dental practitioners into NSW primary schools, to make it easier for children to access vital services.”
Mr Hazzard said he hoped the program would reduce the number of children presenting to hospitals with preventable dental conditions.
“Children’s oral health can influence their general health,” Mr Hazzard said.
He said the program would initially focus on Western Sydney, the Mid North Coast and the Central Coast.
Mr Hazzard said that under the program primary school children would be offered a dental check-up, teeth clean and x-rays to look for dental decay.
