Oral health care for children and young people
Between 2021 and 2025, Helsinki has provided more periodic oral health check-ups for children and young people than required by law. The challenge is to reach families in need of support, lower secondary school-age young people and students and have them make use of preventive oral health services.
The goal of the assessment
The primary question of the assessment was whether oral health care for children and young people is provided in line with legislation and the City’s policies. The assessment examined whether preventive oral health care for children and young people involves multidisciplinary cooperation, whether oral health checks for people under the age of 18 are carried out in accordance with legislation, whether resources are allocated to children and young people at risk of oral diseases and whether emergency oral health care for people under the age of 23 is carried out in accordance with legislation. Access to orthodontic treatment was also examined. The timing and content of periodic health checks for children and adolescents and the time limits for access to oral health care are defined in legislation. Access to orthodontic treatment is based on national principles.
Conclusions
Oral health care for children and young people is largely provided in line with legislation and the City’s policies. Oral health care has trained public health nurses and worked in multidisciplinary cooperation with child health clinics. However, cooperation with school and student health services has been limited. Oral health checks for families expecting their first child and for 0–17-year-olds have largely been carried out in accordance with legislation. More checks have been offered than required by law, but a significant proportion of families and young people have not taken advantage of them. For the most part, sufficient resources have been allocated to groups of children at risk of oral diseases, but some families have not been reached early enough. People under 23 have been able to access non-urgent oral health care within the time limits. The waiting list for an assessment of the need for orthodontic treatment has been cleared, but there is a waiting list for treatment to start.
Recommendations of the Audit Committee
The oral health care services of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division must
- take measures to increase the participation of families expecting their first child and in need of support in the assessment of oral health and treatment needs.
- take measures to increase the participation of young people of lower secondary school age and students in oral health checks.
- continue measures to clear the waiting list for orthodontic treatment and reduce the waiting times.
The oral health care services of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division and school and student health care services must
- increase their cooperation to improve the oral health of children and young people.