Trainee technician Kyla Zielinski, 17, and dentist Jiman Han work on a patient in a mobile Smilecare clinic in Kaikohe. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Trainee technician Kyla Zielinski, 17, and dentist Jiman Han work on a patient in a mobile Smilecare clinic in Kaikohe. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A free dental service which aimed to help Kaikohe residents in dire need of treatment has been axed after its parent company went into receivership.
The end of the free clinics — which were supposed to be a trial for a Far North-wide, koha-based dental service — is ''heart-breaking'' accordingto Doug Healey, who had been hired to run the Northland operation.
The closure had left 1300 people waiting for treatment, 150 of whom were in severe pain. The free service was an initiative of high-profile Ngāpuhi dentist Scott Waghorn who sent some of his mobile dental clinics north while they were idle during the Auckland lockdown.
There was an initial setback when the trucks were turned back at the Northland ''border'' for reasons which remain unclear, but by September 2 the clinics were operating at Horeke and on Broadway, Kaikohe.
They were staffed by Smilecare dentists and hygienists from Auckland with two Kaikohe women hired to train as technicians. However, last month the staff and equipment were recalled to Auckland when Avondale Smilecare was placed into receivership.
Under receivership, a company which can't pay its bills is placed in the hands of another firm while its trades its way out of debt or is sold off.
In the five weeks the service operated in Kaikohe and Horeke, 2000 people had been registered, 700 were seen by a dentist, and 600 teeth were extracted. To put that into perspective the entire population of Kaikohe is just over 4000.
Healey said that meant 1300 people — 150 of whom were in ''emergency level'' pain — had not been seen.
''It's heartbreaking. We hadn't even pushed hard [to get patients]. I think we just scratched the surface.''
Healey said he was shocked by the number of children, about 30 per cent of patients, in dire need of dental treatment.
That was despite all New Zealand children being eligible for free dental treatment to the age of 18.
Healey said parents had told him their children had been on a waiting list for months or that there just weren't enough dentists to go around.
Doug Healey, who was the general manager for Smilecare Northland, says the demise of the free service is "heartbreaking". Photo / Peter de Graaf
With no private dental service in Kaikohe for more than a year, some had been waiting months to see a dentist in Kerikeri or Whangārei.
Healey's long-term plan had been to set up permanent, koha-based dental clinics, starting in Kaikohe, and he had already started scouting out suitable premises.
The service would have been viable with at least some outside funding, ''but no one's come to the party''.
He hadn't given up and knew of some dental hygienists who were keen to come home to Kaikohe.
If he managed to get a replacement service off the ground it wouldn't be until early next year, he said.
Mere Mangu, chairwoman of Te Rūnanga-a-iwi o Ngāpuhi, supported Waghorn's initiative from the outset.
''He's the first person who's come to Ngāpuhi and offered something for nothing.''
It might have worked out differently if the iwi chairs hadn't blocked the mobile clinics when Smilecare first tried to come north, she said.
The response to the service highlighted the huge need in Kaikohe and Hokianga, she said.
Now that Andrew Little had been appointed Health Minister she would make a point of seeing him and putting a case for dental services in Kaikohe.
''It's a long shot but it's worth it,'' Mangu said.
■ A Whangārei dental practice called SmileCare Dental Studio has no connection with Avondale Smilecare, the company which went into receivership. They are different companies with different owners.
