Kindergarten students are set to receive oral check-ups for free on campus starting in the coming academic year on September 1, the Department of Health said on Monday.

Under the newly launched Outreach Oral Health Programme, 23 designated service providers will head to schools to offer dental and preventive services for those aged three to six on an annual basis.

With the aim of cultivating early childhood dental care with the help of parents, they will also provide parents a report of their children's dental health, as well referral services for those in need.

Reports of children with tooth decay will also come with tailor-made care advice.

In addition, outreach teams will also offer seminars on dental health for teachers free or charge, in a bid to raise children's awareness towards oral care.

So far, 680 schools have signed up for the scheme — accounting for 71.7 percent of a total of 949 kindergartens across the city.

Dr Alex Chau, a senior dental officer (Community Dental Service) from the department, said some schools decided not to join because they have already arranged similar services themselves.

"And second one is that the kindergarten may be moving from one school, physically moving from one campus to another campus, or maybe the school is closing," he said.

"So they may be busy with other issues."

But the providers will continue to reach out to these schools to encourage them to sign up to the programme, he added.

With the roll out of the programme, preventive dental services that are either offered for free or subsidised by the department now cover all age groups.

The scheme was the latest one following the launch of the Primary Dental Co-care Pilot Scheme for Adolescents in March last year.

Dr Kitty Hse, a consultant in-charge of dental services from the department, said that as of August 12, some 10,000 teenagers had undergone checkups at dentists covered under the scheme.



Edited by Tony Sabine