Reimagining Dental & Oral Health
This Recommendations Paper is on the Te Wāhi Tiaki Tātou Reimagining Session - Māmā/Pāpā, Pēpi, and Rangatahi - Dental Care
Porirua Dental Event
In 2023, community members of Porirua shared their ideas on what they thought a reimagined dental health system would look like in Porirua. From this came the Porirua Free Dental Event - an opportunity to meet some of Porirua's unmet dental needs using a no-cost, whānau-centered approach that would work for the community. The learnings and insights from this event have been recorded in an evaluation which you can read about below.
Supervised Toothbrushing Programme
We launched a pilot supervised toothbrushing programme in a single class at Corrina School in September 2024. The programme emerged from reimagining sessions held with the Porirua community, where whānau shared their health aspirations and the barriers they faced in accessing effective dental care. These sessions identified a need for proactive, equitable oral health interventions, particularly for Māori and Pacific tamariki who face higher rates of tooth decay.
The supervised toothbrushing programme was seen as a high-impact, low-barrier solution to promote oral hygiene and reduce dental health disparities in the region. We provided tamariki with toothbrushes and toothpaste for both home and school use. Tamariki brushed their teeth every day after morning tea for 2 minutes. The success of the pilot has resulted in an extension and continuation of the supervised toothbrushing programme.
Read more on the findings from the pilot programme below.