Flying Doctors Launch New Oral Treatment Trial Programme
The Royal Flying Doctor Service is launching a new trial oral health programme, known as TOOTH (The Outback Oral Treatment Trial). The service will operate from the newly refurbished base in Dubbo.
The RFDS said that standards of oral health are among the poorest in the country in the north western area of New South Wales and in some remote areas, standards are worse than in some developing countries.
Over the course of the next year, the RFDS will he holding more than 250 dental clinics in remote communities in the region, with locations including Lightning Ridge, Goodooga, Bourke and Collarenebri.
Clyde Thompson, executive director of the south east region, said that the state of people’s teeth had shocked a newly appointed surgeon. On visiting communities, the surgeon was alarmed at how bad people’s teeth were and how poor their oral hygiene was, which is shocking in itself, as he has experience in working in third world countries.
The surgeon will be addressing priority cases and then working towards a preventative programme, which will hopefully help to reduce rates of decay and gum disease in the future.
Mr Thompson is hoping to secure government funding for the preventive programme to enable services to be extended to other parts of the region.
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