To mark this year’s National Close the Gap Day, which carries the theme “Transforming Power: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander-led Transformation; Gender Justice: Equality & Equity; Allyship”, the ADA is highlighting the considerable issues that still affect in Indigenous oral health.
Statistics available from the Australian Government’s National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) show that between July 2015 and June 2017, Indigenous children aged 0-4 were hospitalised for dental conditions at almost twice the rate of non-Indigenous children.
Additionally, 6% of Indigenous Australians aged over 15 and over were reported to have complete tooth loss with 45% experiencing the loss of at least one tooth in 2018-19 while an estimated 19% of Indigenous Australians did not go to a dentist when they required treatment over a 12-month period.
Overall, NIAA notes that “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adults have much higher rates of dental disease than their non-Indigenous counterparts across Australia” and that they are “more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to have multiple caries, have lost all their teeth, and/or to have gum disease … and also less likely to receive the dental care that they need.”
As part of its efforts to play a role in addressing the significant oral health deficits which Indigenous people experience compared to non-Indigenous Australians, the ADA is working with Indigenous Australian health professionals to create resources that can be provided to Indigenous patients to encourage greater oral health literacy.
The ADA and the Australian Dental Health Foundation also provide grants to Indigenous dental students via their First Nations Dentist Students grants and Indigenous Study Grants to empower the next generation of Indigenous dentists, hygienists and oral health therapists to make real differences to the oral health of their communities.
Financial support is also provided by the ADA to the University of Adelaide’s Indigenous Oral Health Unit (part of the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health) which seeks to improve oral health and better dental care for all Indigenous Australians.
National Close the Gap Day, an advocacy initiative of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), began more than ten years ago when, following the groundbreaking report of human rights campaigner and current Chancellor of the University of Canberra Tom Calma as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson signed the Close the Gap Statement of Intent in 2008.
Calma’s Social Justice Report 2005 urgently argued that Australian governments needed to commit to achieving equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in health and life expectancy, within 25 years.
In July 2020, a new National Agreement on Closing The Gap was signed by the Commonwealth, State/Territory and local government representatives, and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations in recognition of the fact that while some health metrics were improving for Indigenous Australians, others were either not on track or the improvement rate for non-Indigenous was eclipsing that of their non-Indigenous counterparts.
You can access the ADA’s Policy 2.3.5 Delivery of Oral Health: Special groups: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians here and find more info at about National Close the Gap Day by going to National Close the Gap Day | ANTaR.
