Government Dental Service for Children in Hong Kong

Government Dental Service for Children in Hong Kong

The Department of Health (DH) of Hong Kong delivers oral health education and promotion programmes and preventive dental care services for the children of Hong Kong through its Oral Health Education Division (www.toothclub.gov.hk) and the School Dental Care Service (www.schooldental.gov.hk).

The Oral Health Education Division of the DH aims to promote oral health to the general public of Hong Kong.  It organises oral health education programmes targeting young children. The “Brighter Smiles for the New Generation” programme, launched in 1993, aims to help children under age 6 establish good toothbrushing and smart dietary habits for the prevention of dental diseases since early childhood. It also produces different types of specially-designed educational resources to disseminate the message of oral health to pre-school children and their parents through Maternal and Child Health Centres, kindergartens and nurseries.  The webpage of the Division (www.toothclub.gov.hk) is updated from time to time, through which the public can have ready access to oral health information.

For children with intellectual disability, the Oral Health Education Division conducts the “Dandelion Oral Care Action” programme for students with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities studying in special schools. The Division collaborates with the schools and parents and teaches them to practice the correct toothbrushing and flossing techniques for taking care of the children’s oral health so that they can clean their teeth well and maintain healthy teeth and gum when they leave school.

A “Love Teeth Campaign” is launched annually by DH with the objective of facilitating the development of proper oral health habits and tooth cleaning techniques among the general public.  The OH also monitors the level of fluoridation in the communal water supply in order to reduce dental decay among the population.

Apart from these, the Department of Health also monitors the level of fluoridation in the communal water supply. Water fluoridation in Hong Kong is a very effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay in the population. The caries experience of the Hong Kong population had significantly reduced when water fluoridation was implemented.

© 2019 Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Dentistry. All rights reserved.