The Legana Primary School site masterplan includes a new two-surgery children's dental clinic operated by Oral Health Services Tasmania.

Rosevears Liberal MLC Jo Palmer said public dental services provided by the clinic would be available to all children regardless of the school they attended, including pre-schoolers and adolescents aged up to 17 years.

READ MORE: LGH co-location health services still under consideration

The proposed dental clinic will replace the mobile dental van located at Exeter Primary School and provide 3000 dentist appointments per year.

University of Melbourne Dental School senior researcher Shahrukh Khan completed his PhD in Tasmania and said the proposed dental clinic could potentially set children up for a lifetime of improved oral health.

"The high cost of private dental care and the limited supply of public dental services in regional areas can be barriers," he said.

"I think targeting children when they're in school is really important, it's a way of removing those barriers and it may have a lifelong impact in terms of maintaining their oral health."

READ MORE: Parents disappointed by capped numbers on celebration dinner

Australian Dental Association Tasmania president Girish Sasidharan said the ADA welcomed the proposed oral health clinic and it could help to improve dental health throughout the West Tamar region.

"So from from our experience, it's been proven that if we start to focus on preventative dental care, that's probably the most sustainable way of delivering good dental care for the full population," Dr Sasidharan said.

"If you start early on then that means it creates less dental problems in the future when they get older, and also getting them into a good habit of seeing dental professionals regularly."

While dental health care is free for children under the age of 18, Dr Sasidharan said locating the oral health clinic at the primary school could help remove additional barriers for parents.

"It's a great opportunity to use the free service, and if kids get a good start it means for the rest of their life they'll have less dental problems and they'll spend less money on dental treatments when they get older," he said.

The Community Dental Clinic is expected to open in 2024.

What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: