The disparity between the oral health of people living in rural areas in Australia and metropolitan populations is striking.
- Rural adults are one and a half times more likely to have no natural teeth than the general population.
- People living in rural areas are more likely than urban dewellers to report avoiding eating food due to dental problems.
- People living in rural areas are more likely to be hospitalized for preventable dental conditions than people living in metropolitan areas.
- A person living in rural Australia is less likely to have visted a dentist in the last 12 months than someone living in an urban area.
The Oral Health of Rural Populations in Australia Symposium in Shepparton on Friday 26 September 2008 examined the reasons and experiences behind these facts and considered innovative and realistic approaches to improving oral health in rural areas.
As a result of the symposium, dentists and health academics have drafted the Shepparton Declaration - a call for new ideas and action to reduce the city-country divide in oral health.
>Download abstracts from the Oral Health in Rural Populations Symposium.
>Listen to Prof Mike Morgan and Dr Anne Hyslop of the CRC for Oral Health Science and Dr Bruce Simmons convenor of the Oral Health Interest Group of the Public Health Association of Australia, discuss the issues on Radio National's Bush Telegraph program (10 Sept 2008). Play MP3 file
|
Rural oral health was the topic of the CRC-OHS's third community oral health symposium. |
| |
|
|
