Key points
- 1,108 reviewed emergency presentations for dental decay were potentially preventable
- Children aged 9 years and under accounted for the largest share of all ED dental attendances
- About 73% of emergency visits occurred outside traditional dental clinic hours
Queensland children from disadvantaged backgrounds are presenting to hospital emergency departments with painful yet preventable dental issues, researchers have found.
Paediatric dentist and University of Queensland School of Dentistry Associate Professor Sobia Zafar led an observational study examining children's emergency department visits at 5 hospitals in Queensland's Metro South region, over 6 years.
Researchers found 1,108 visits were linked to dental disease that was potentially preventable.
"Behind every presentation is a child in pain, a worried family, and a health system responding to a problem that may have been avoidable," Dr Zafar said.
The study found around 73 per cent of presentations occurred outside normal dental clinic opening hours, highlighting the need for improved after-hours pathways for families.
"This is not simply a dental problem; it's an access and health equity problem," Dr Zafar said.
"The children who are already experiencing the greatest socioeconomic disadvantage are up to 16 times more likely to present to hospital with dental pain than those living in the most advantaged areas.
"Emergency departments are not designed to provide definitive treatment to most preventable dental disease."
Dr Zafar said nearly half of the children presenting to emergency departments had serious dental disease affecting the tooth pulp or surrounding tissues, including abscesses.
"Children under 9 years of age accounted for the largest share of all emergency department visits, suggesting a critical need for oral care prevention and intervention in early years of development," she said
"Most patients will be seen, given pain relief and maybe antibiotics before they are sent home to wait for a dentist's appointment."
Dr Zafar said she would like to see dental health checks included in routine pre-school health screening programs, as well as greater involvement from GPs and other healthcare professionals in reinforcing the importance of dental care.
"Prevention and ongoing check-ups are much cheaper and less painful than treatment," Dr Zafar said.
"A lot of parents I talk to don't realise how important baby teeth are because they think, 'they are going to fall out anyway', or don't appreciate the value of regular check-ups until their child is in distress.
"While education is one part of the picture, it's also important to let parents know there is financial assistance for dental services, like the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, which provides enough funding to cover dental check-ups and cleaning visits for eligible families.
"If we take care of our teeth, we actually take care of the whole body."
Read the research in BMC Oral Health.
Collaboration and acknowledgements
The research was conducted in collaboration between The University of Queensland's School of Dentistry and Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, James Cook University's College of Medicine and Dentistry and Metro South Health.
