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SCMP Reporter

FORM 1 students in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long will only need to pay $200 to enjoy a range of dental services throughout the school year, thanks to a pilot scheme on youth dental care programme.

  The scheme, organised by the Hongkong Dental Association, will be introduced to secondary schools in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long in September, benefitting over 9,700 school children.

  It is the first of its kind involving private dental practitioners. Fifty dentists will be taking part in the scheme.

  If the scheme proves successful, it will be extended to other secondary schools in the territory to serve a target population of about 60,000 children each year.

  At present, secondary school students enjoy a School Medical Services Scheme in which one needs to pay $20 for medical service and medical guidance, excluding dental service.

 The Government offers a School Dental Care Service (SDCS), but only for primary school pupils.

  The report of the Government Dental Sub-committee of the Medical Development Advisory Committee recommended the implementation of a special programme at Primary 6 level to promote the importance of regular dental care.

  It also recommended a transfer programme be worked out in co-operation between the SDCS, the Oral Health Education Unit and the Hongkong Dental Association.

  The need for such a scheme was further emphasised by a recent study carried out in the Department of Children's Dentistry and Orthodontics, University of Hongkong.

  The utilisation of oral health services among a sample of 13-and 15-year-olds was found to be extremely low. Of the 760 surveyed, 73 per cent had not seen a dentist since secondary school.

 The Youth Dental Care Programme, which received endorsement from the Government Health and Medical Advisory Committee in April, is to extend dental care service from primary to secondary schools and switch from government to private based.

  Form 1 students who have joined the SDCS in primary school are eligible to join the programme.

  Information leaflets, application forms and a list of participating dentists will be handed out to parents. For a fixed annual premium - $200 - participants will receive comprehensive dental care from a dentist of their own choice on the list.

  The Hongkong Dental Association met with the Tuen Mun District Secondary School Heads Association earlier to explain the details of the programme. Most schools welcomed the scheme.

  Mr Mak Siu-ming, the principal of Shun Tak Fraternal Association Leung Kau Kui College, said the scheme was affordable and beneficial.

        A launching ceremony of the programme was held recently at the Tuen Mun School Children Dental Clinic.



A pilot dental care scheme will enable Tuen Mun and Yuen Long first-formers to