Dental Health
The Dental Health program includes:
- Outreach dental service and follow-up treatment to clients of our Mental Health program
- Pre-school dental services in the cities of Port Phillip and Stonnington
- Dental services for high school aged students in years 9 and 10
- Homeless Youth Dental Clinic
- Dental Fix clinic, which provides dental care to people with chronic alcohol and/or illicit drug issues
- Dental Plus clinic, which provides dental care to people who are HIV positive or who have AIDS
- Community dental and denture services
Our dental clinics are located at the Prahran and SouthPort Centres. Dental care is restricted to healthcare card holders, pension card holders (and their dependants). We also see pre-school children.
Outstanding achievement award
In 2006, the program’s continued commitment to excellence and innovation was recognised with an award for ‘outstanding achievement in appropriateness of care’ at the 2005 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.
This award recognised the unique and inspiring work of the ‘Dental As Anything’ program, a collaborative oral health assertive outreach program targeting members of the community who have a psychiatric disability and who are homeless or transient. ‘Dental as Anything’ has provided dental care options to those who would not normally approach or have access to this service. This program is making a real impact on the health of our community.
Also in 2006, the Pre-school Dental program, which involves the development of health promotion and education initiatives and encompasses outreach screening as well as clinical treatment, achieved great success in creating and updating dental and nutritional policies at pre-schools. With a commitment to continued training, education and support for parents and staff, our pre-school dental is significantly improving oral health and awareness amongst the very young.