JCU dentists smile their way through Cape York

With just five dentists serving the region from Cooktown to Thursday Island, dental students are taking crucial steps to improve oral health in Far North Queensland.

JCU dentistry student Parshast Sumbria with Cape York residents

Dentistry students have distributed more than 250 oral health kits across Cape York communities while working to break down fears around dental visits.

James Cook University students distributed more than 250 oral health kits during a recent outreach program in Hopevale and Cooktown.

From brushing and flossing shows at schools, to practical advice for seniors on denture care, the students worked to break down fear around dental visits.

A tour of the Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service revealed there are only 14 dental chairs and five dentists servicing the region of Cooktown up to Thursday Island.

JCU dentistry student Parshast Sumbria with a Cape York resident

Third-year JCU Dentistry student Parshast Sumbria said the initiative is about making oral health less intimidating.

“We showed school kids what a dental visit involves to help remove that stigma of it being loud and scary,” he said.

“We talked about age adaptive brushing techniques, denture care and dry mouth management, which is a consequence of taking lots of medications,” Mr Sumbria said.

“And they asked questions around what kind of sweeteners they could use in their tea and coffee and what products that they would be able to find in Cooktown to brush their teeth, because things like water flossers aren’t readily available.”

The team provided a fun and accessible way for children to engage in the oral health message, with storytelling using dental animal puppets and large teeth costumes.

James Cook University (JCU) Dentistry students delivered smiles and skills to Far North Queensland earlier this month, running hands-on oral health workshops for children, seniors, and community members as part of the University’s remote outreach initiative

This year was also the first outreach engagement with members of the ‘60s and Better’ seniors activity centre.

“It was humbling to see that even though there’s so many advancements going on in dentistry and medicine, there’s still that huge barrier to access them for people that live in rural and remote communities,” Mr Sumbria said.

“For the community, it showed that dental care doesn’t have to be scary,” he said.

“For us as students, it removed the fear of the unknown about working in rural and remote places — we saw how rewarding it can be.”

Mr Sumbria said the initiative reduced fear on both sides and was very positive experience for everyone involved.

JCU has produced 836 dentists, most are now working in regional, rural and remote locations.

Originally published as JCU dentists smile their way through Cape York