The Dental Association wants more water fluoridation, a levy on sugary drinks, and publicly funded dental care. Photo: 123RF
Dentists have launched a strategy to tackle what they are calling an oral health crisis.
The Dental Association said New Zealand's oral health was in trouble, with one in three adults suffering from untreated tooth decay, and thousands of people ending up in hospital due to preventable dental problems every year.
It said its Oral Health Roadmap 2025-2030 was a response to decades of minimal progress in oral health outcomes for many communities, despite good intentions and well-meaning public health initiatives.
The report recommended:
- expanding community water fluoridation and restoring momentum following legal and logistical delays
- introducing a levy on sugary drinks and clearer labelling to reduce sugar intake, a key contributor to tooth decay
- addressing the dental workforce shortage, including improving Māori and Pacific representation
- integrating oral health more directly into the wider healthcare system, including it being publicly funded
- supporting the mental health and resilience of dental professionals.
Dental Association director of dental policy Dr Robin Whyman said for too long health policy had not prioritised oral health.
"The way that oral health tends to be regarded in health planning is it's only an issue for children and adolescents. And yet we really have a huge change in the New Zealand population over the last three or four decades as more and more people retain their own teeth," he said.
"When we looked at the New Zealand health survey from 2023 and 2024, one in three New Zealanders reported they had untreated tooth decay and that was shown similarly in our 2009 oral health survey so really we haven't been improving greatly in that space."
The association recommends a levy on sugary drinks and clearer labelling to reduce sugar intake, a key contributor to tooth decay. Photo: AFP/ DPA - Annette Riedl
Thirty-five thousand adults reported a facial injury in 2023, which often included damage to teeth, he said.
Whyman said dentists were concerned about the workforce shortage.
"We need to increase the number of people who are provided with training positions to train as a dentist, that number has not increased from around 60 since the 1980s," he said.
The association represents more than 98 percent of dentists and dental specialists in New Zealand.
It said the cost of dental care was a significant barrier for many people, with 52 percent of people in high deprivation areas avoiding going to the dentist because of the cost.
It advocated funding dental care for young adults and designing dental service models relevant to specific communities and for high-need population groups.
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