More than 10,000 people across the west will benefit from improved dental services at co health.
Oral Health West received $4.9 million in state government funding for its Footscray site to upgrade dental X-ray and sterilisation equipment and provide more efficient care, especially for children.
“Last year more than 10,000 people accessed our oral health services, many of them children – it’s one of our highest- demand areas of health care,” co health chief executive Lyn Morgain said.
“Oral health has a huge impact on the rest of our lives – healthy teeth are required for good nutrition, and there’s a direct relationship between poor teeth and poor mental and physical health. With healthier teeth, you’re more likely to smile.”
Co health’s Geelong Road services will move to a new site in Paisley Street in September next year.
Ms Morgain said figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show tooth decay is increasing in younger generations.
“Having an efficient, high-quality service to help tackle the rise of tooth decay among young children is critical to creating good lifelong habits early,” she said.
“Good dental health is fundamental to being healthy and poor dental health places greater burden on all health services.”
