More Funding Needed to Continue Flying Doctor Outback Dental Programme
More funding is needed to continue the good work achieved by the Flying Doctor outback dental programme, TOOTH (The Outback Oral Treatment and Health).
The programme was launched in 2012 and has since treated more than 5,000 children living in outback towns and villages. When it first started, standards of oral health were extremely poor, with one dentist working on the scheme comparing children’s oral health to standards you would expect to see in a developing country. The average child had five decayed teeth, which is way above the national average, and only 7 of the 220 children at Bourke Public School had healthy teeth.
Since the programme was established, a dentist or dental therapist has been visiting outback communities once or twice a week and this has had a really positive impact on standards of oral health. The number of decayed teeth per child has halved and children and adults have benefited from more than $1 million worth of dental treatment. Dentists have been visiting four towns including Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Goodooga and Collarenebri, and more than 695 clinics have taken place.
The $2.5 million programme was funded partly by the Gonski and Investech Foundations and now the Flying Doctors are seeking funding to continue the programme and build on its amazing success. David Gonski, a businessman and philanthropist who felt compelled to fund the project after visiting outback communities and seeing the state of oral health among indigenous and non-indigenous residents, said that the programme has enjoyed great success and provides a solid model for the future. Mr Gonski believes that the success of the scheme shows the government that there are no risks involved and has called for a mixture of NGO’s, government funding and philanthropic funding sources to be made available.
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