Young country patients and their siblings will have increased access to dental care at Royal Far West following the launch of a new dental chair at the Manly health facility today.
The $40,000 chair means for the first time some siblings of Royal Far West patients will be able to access vital dental care. Paediatric dentist Dr Dammika Sainath told those at the launch dental need in country NSW was great.
“It’s been wonderful offering the dental service to our patients in recent years but we’ve really seen a lot of need from the siblings as well,” Dr Sainath said.
“Previously, we could only offer dental treatment to Royal Far West patients but with the new chair increasing our ability to see more children we expect to start seeing siblings with high need by the end of the year.
“It’s a wonderful step forward for our young patients and their families. Dental disease can really impact on a child’s overall wellbeing and where we are seeing siblings in need of serious dental care such as fillings, extractions or root canal it’s important we be able to expand our services so we can offer them the same kind of care their brothers and sisters are enjoying.”
Dr Sainath acknowledged there was dental need in the wider rural community and said expanding the service to cater for siblings was the first step in meeting that wider need.
“I can’t predict at this point how far we will extend the service in the future but I think this increase is a wonderful first step forward,” she said.
Last year the Royal Far West dental team performed almost 1300 occasions of service on young patients who travelled to Manly from their homes across country NSW.
Royal Far West offers a range of specialist care to its young patients including speech therapy, psychiatry and ophthalmology.
Media contact: Sharon Hogan 0421 619 097
