Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer, 1997

Dental health Introduction and summary

Introduction

Data presented in this chapter come from three main sources.

Data on the dental health of children aged 0-14 years for the period 1986 to 1995 were collected from around 1.5 per cent of all NSW children, sampled from the 26 per cent of children who attended public dental services. They did not include children attending private practitioners (an estimated 40% of all NSW children) or those who did not use either public or private dental care (34%).

Data for children for 1996 are not directly comparable with earlier data because they come from the Save Our Kids Smiles (SOKS) program, a schools-based risk assessment and managed care program for all NSW children in years K, 2, 4, 6 and 8.

Data on hospitalisation for removal or restoration of teeth come from the NSW Inpatient Statistics Collection. For details of the methods used for analysing these, refer to the Methods section.

Summary

	In 1996, approximately two-thirds of NSW kindergarten children had experienced no tooth decay. Kindergarten children had on average one decayed, missing or filled tooth. [See Oral health of six year old children]
	In the same year, 57 per cent of NSW children in grade 6 had experienced no tooth decay. Grade 6 children had on average one decayed, missing or filled tooth. [See Oral health of twelve year old children]
	Hospitalisations for the removal or restoration of teeth among infants and young children aged 0-4 years increased slightly over the period 1988/89 to 1994/95. The main reason for inpatient dental care of children in this age group is rampant dental caries caused by the prolonged daily use of nursing bottles. [See Hospitalisations of children 0-14 years]
	Hospitalisations for the removal or restoration of teeth among children aged 5-14 years rose by almost 30 per cent over the same period. The main reason for inpatient dental care of children in this age category is extensive dental caries. [See Hospitalisations of children 0-14 years]
	Hospitalisations for removal and restoration of teeth in persons aged over 15 years increased by around 60 per cent in males and almost 70 per cent in females over the period 1988/89 to 1994/95. [See Hospitalisations of adults 15+ years]
	Most admissions for people aged 15-24 years are for removal of impacted teeth (for example, wisdom teeth). [See Hospitalisations of adults 15+ years]
	Among persons aged 25 years and over, most admissions are for removal of teeth for dental caries or periodontal disease. [See Hospitalisations of adults 15+ years]