Time for free dental care in New Zealand? - The Front Page

Dental care remains a luxury in New Zealand. Photo/123rf

A new petition is calling for free dental care to be extended to all New Zealanders.

The petition, spearheaded by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASM), comes as survey results show that 72 per cent of us have avoided the dentist because of cost.

Sarah Dalton, executive director at ASM, tells The Front Page podcast that this neglect is showing up in the mouths of patients who have not visited the dentist in years.

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“After our petition [went live], we got a call from a person who has actually chosen to declare themselves bankrupt in order to try to save up for 10 years’ worth of unmet dental need, which was making them miserable both physically and psychologically,” says Dalton.

But this is only one of a number of stories that Dalton has heard over the years.

“We also have stories from members where they’ve seen the results of people attempting to remove their own teeth at home with pliers. That has caused carnage in terms of later infections and other damage.”

Dalton says that these drastic measures are only necessary because of how desperate people are for relief from the pain they are suffering.

New Zealand does not track well in this regard when compared to other OECD countries.

“While 72 per cent of New Zealanders say they’ve avoided the dentist, only 36 per cent in the UK say the same thing,” she says.

The problem with the suggestion of free dental care is that it could prove expensive for the country on an annual basis.

“Estimates have varied, but they range from about $160 million up to about $450 million a year,” she says.

“That’s a lot, but it’s less than the billion dollars the Minister of Finance has suggested it would be.”

Dalton adds that it doesn’t have to be a case of simply making dental care free for everyone from day one.

“At the moment, it stops when kids leave school when they’re 18. So we could extend that out to 20, then to 22 and on to 25 over a period of time.”

She argues that this could help to address some of the cases of students avoiding dental care due to the high costs during their university years. Addressing dental problems at an early stage could help to prevent some of the serious issues which then lead to major - and expensive - problems later in life.

So what’s the likelihood of this happening? Could a sugar tax play a role in paying for dental care? And could we actually save money in the long term by investing in preventative dental care today?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast for a full discussion on these issues.

• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. • You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.