Free dental care meets acute need of poor
Christchurch has opened the country’s most comprehensive charity dental unit for those unable to afford oral care.
The Canterbury Charity Hospital’s (CCH) new two-clinic facility, Warner Mauger House, will be used by 30 volunteer dentists and oral surgeons to provide oral surgery and dental work free of charge.
CCH Trust chairman Dr Phil Bagshaw said the new facility, opened on Saturday by former New Zealand governor-general and patron Sir Jerry Mateparae, was ‘‘absolutely first class’’.
‘‘With the new facility we’ll be able to have two chairs running at the same time and we’ll have two dental surgeons to do more complicated stuff.’’
He said the hospital’s aim had always been to get patients dentally fit for a period of two years and complete any needed treatments.
With all treatments free to beneficiaries referred by a dentist, it is expected the facility would help alleviate the region’s dental problems among low income earners, Bagshaw said.
New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA) spokesman Dr Rob Beaglehole said in March last year dental problems affected the poor disproportionately.
‘‘You can clearly map out tooth decay rates with not only ethnicity, but also with postcode; it’s a disease of poverty.’’
Dentist and NZDA member Stuart Johnson said the public hospital system did a good job but there were those who fell through the cracks and put off dental work because of costs.
‘‘Dentistry is expensive and one of the barriers to receiving treatment for some people is finance.
‘‘It’s important that dentists recognise that everyone needs these kinds of treatment, not just those that can afford it.’’
Johnson said volunteer dentists at CCH had provided more than 1000 treatments over the past five years.
Treatments such as the removal of decayed wisdom teeth could not be left untreated without causing further issues, he said. Access to dental surgery and dentures would help improve the lives who needed it most.
‘‘Certainly we’ve got a sector of our society who have huge dental needs,’’ Johnson said.
CCH manager Carl Shaw said the charity hospital had provided some dentistry services since 2012, but the demand and requirements ‘‘quickly outgrew’’ what was available.
It could now provide five days of free dental care, where only three days were possible before.
He said the building housing the new facility had previously been a six-bedroom home with a four-car garage. It was purchased by the CCH in 2015.
The extensive renovation project by Naylor Love cost $550,000 and included office and administration space upstairs to free-up existing offices for patient clinics.