Aboriginal Health Practitioners obtaining, possessing and administering fluoride varnish: self-determination driven regulation amendment for integrated oral health care for Aboriginal children

Rahila Ummer-Christian; Dallas Widdicombe; Anil Raichur; Danielle Couch

doi:10.1071/PY23201

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Aboriginal Health Practitioners obtaining, possessing and administering fluoride varnish: self-determination driven regulation amendment for integrated oral health care for Aboriginal children

Rahila Ummer-Christian ^A ^* , Dallas Widdicombe ^A , Anil Raichur ^B and Danielle Couch ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Loddon Mallee Aboriginal Reference Group Strategic/Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative, North Bendigo, Vic. 3550, Australia.

^B Victoria State Department of Health, 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia.

^C Monash Rural Health, Monash University, 26 Mercy Street, Bendigo, Vic. 3550, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: Rahila.Christian@bdac.com.au

Australian Journal of Primary Health 30, PY23201 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY23201

Submitted: 31 October 2023 Accepted: 21 December 2023 Published: 12 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Self-determination informed policies are key to improved outcomes for Aboriginal health. Aboriginal leadership must be reflected throughout any public health reform process that affects Aboriginal communities. This paper presents a body of oral health policy work, undertaken under Loddon Mallee Aboriginal Reference Group’s (LMARG’s) leadership, as an exemplar of a self-determination informed change, that led to an amendment of an Australian state (Victoria) regulation – The Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners [AHPs]) Regulations 2022. A summary of activities undertaken by LMARG, from advocacy to leading the submission, to amend the regulation, is provided. The amendment, now in place, authorises registered AHPs to obtain, possess, and administer fluoride varnish (FV) as a part of health services they provide. FV is a concentrated form of fluoride applied to tooth surfaces to prevent tooth decay. The practical implication of this amendment is delivery of a culturally appropriate integrated oral health promotion FV model that addresses mainstream dental access barriers commonly experienced by Aboriginal people. The model aims at upskilling an Aboriginal workforce to facilitate timely FV application to Aboriginal children.

Keywords: Aboriginal Health Practitioners, Aboriginal leadership, AHPs, culturally responsive services, delivery of oral health care, indigenous, integrated primary care, self-determination.

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