Ethnicity and child dental health status in the Manawatu-Wanganui Area Health Board.

Dental caries data on 3,283 5-year-old children, taken at the completion of their first treatment in the School Dental Service as new school entrants, showed that non-Maori children were three times more likely than Maori children to have no experience of caries. Maori children were three times more likely to have high (five or more missing or filled teeth) caries experience than non-Maori children. Caries experience in Pacific Island children lay between the Maori and non-Maori children. Maori children were almost three times more likely to have had general anaesthesia for dental treatment than were non-Maori. From records of 3,329 Form II (aged 12 or 13) children taken at the conclusion of their last treatment in the School Dental Service, non-Maori children were found to be twice as likely than Maori to have had no experience of caries. Maori children were over twice as likely to have had high (five or more missing or filled permanent teeth) caries experience than non-Maori. It is unlikely that the dental health outcome differences between Maori and non-Maori children will be reduced by the current dental health care system unless dental health promotion becomes more effective and culturally appropriate.