Peninsula Health is committed to helping close the gap in Indigenous health outcomes and works with Community across the Peninsula to promote the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people.
While many Aboriginal people have good dental health, on average compared to the non-Aboriginal population, Aboriginal adults have twice the untreated dental tooth decay and higher rates of gum disease.
Tooth decay is preventable and, in the early stages, reversible. Our Koolin Liang Healthy Teeth program is a new initiative of our Community Dental Service to provide free dental screenings for local Aboriginal people.
Dentist Dr Peter Kipnis says the outreach program has many benefits.
“It’s an opportunity for me to go out to community centres and gathering places to let people know about our service,” says Peter.
After performing a dental screening, people are advised whether they need a follow up appointment at one of our four community dental clinics based at Frankston, Hastings, Carrum Downs and Rosebud.
Peter acknowledges that many people avoid going to the dentist, but says the outreach visits are a good opportunity to remind people about the importance of good oral health.
“I’m realistic, I’m a dentist so I know people don’t like me,” laughs Peter.
“But Koolin Liang lets people know we’re here if they need us and it empowers Aboriginal people to be responsible for their dental health.”
Between January and June, staff did nine outreach sessions, each of which had around 50 attendees.
Our Community Dental Services are also now more culturally welcoming spaces for Aboriginal people.
The Frankston waiting room has a special artwork on display that was created by the Kooriez Space Youth Group and Baluk Arts especially for the service.
Staff have also been working to engage Aboriginal children with puppets Maggolee and Little Cuz used for oral health promotion.
The number of Aboriginal people using the Community Dental Service is expected to continue to increase as the team further develop relationships with the local Aboriginal community and raise awareness of the service
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