Missing data impedes the surveillance of child oral health

EHINZ has just published a report which investigates the effect of limited and uneven coverage of community oral health services on the quality of child oral health data they report, particularly regarding the contrast between groups of children with and without access to fluoridated water.

Our findings suggest that owing to unequal provision of dental services (particularly in the Auckland region) and uneven geographic distribution of the sample population, the national statistics concerning child oral health published by community oral health services do not accurately portray the oral health status of fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas in New Zealand and cannot be used in decision-making or policy development.

You can read the new 'perspective' report on oral health here