Dental Health among Pre-Primary Children
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns dental health trends among pre-primary children and the coverage of oral care programs within early childhood education centers. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong inquired about health improvements over the last decade and the availability of free or subsidized initial dental check-ups. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong noted that Primary 1 dental caries rates increased from 50.9% in 2007 to 53.1% in 2016, signaling a lack of improvement. He stated that the Health Promotion Board's tooth-brushing program reached 1,026 childcare centers by 2016, following nominal-cost treatments provided since 1999. Under the NurtureSG Plan, the Ministry will offer free oral health screening for preschoolers aged three to four at 1,100 centers by 2020.
Transcript
18 Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong asked the Minister for Health (a) whether dental health among pre-primary children has improved in the last 10 years; (b) whether HPB's oral care programmes for pre-primary children have been implemented for all early childhood education centres; and (c) whether the Ministry will make available free or subsidised initial dental check-ups for pre-primary children.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: The oral health of our 12-year-old children is ranked amongst the best in the world. However, the proportion of Primary 1 children with dental caries had increased slightly from 50.9% in 2007 to 53.1% in 2016, indicating that the dental health of pre-primary children has not improved in the last decade.
Dental treatment for pre-primary children has been provided at nominal cost at Health Promotion Board's (HPB's) School Dental Centre since 1999, and HPB has been conducting oral health promotion in kindergartens and childcare centres since 2002. To address the rising trend of dental caries in Primary 1 children, HPB introduced the tooth-brushing programme with optimally fluoridated toothpaste in 2014, which has reached 1,026 childcare centres (out of 1,279 childcare centres in 2016). Through this programme, HPB aims to raise awareness of the importance of using optimally-fluoridated toothpaste among parents, teachers and children, and inculcate effective tooth-brushing habits in children from young.
Going forward, as an initiative under the NurtureSG Plan, HPB will move upstream to offer free oral health screening for preschoolers aged three to four years, to at least 800 childcare centres by 2019, and 1,100 childcare centres by 2020.