RNZ Morning Report: 43% of adults skipping dental care due to cost.
Nearly half of adults in Aotearoa can’t afford to see a dentist. Not for cosmetic whitening. Not for veneers. Just basic care. Fillings, check-ups, and relief from pain.
Dental care for adults sits outside our public health system. Once you turn 18, you’re on your own. And 43% of adults say they’ve put off dental care because of cost. The numbers are worse for Māori, Pacific and disabled communities.
Dental for All released a new report that answers a question people keep asking: “What do other countries do?”
The report, There Are Alternatives: Analysis of Overseas Models of Expanding Access to Oral Healthcare within Public Health Systems, looks at eight countries - Niue, Japan, Colombia, Canada, Cuba, Finland, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and shows how each provides publicly funded oral healthcare to a much wider population than we do.
Some integrate dental fully into their public health systems. Some prioritise prevention. Some have strong primary care models. All of them treat oral health as part of overall health, not a luxury add-on.
We already know the cost of doing nothing. A 2024 report found the social and economic costs of unmet dental need in Aotearoa exceed the cost of funding free dental care for everyone. Billions. In lost productivity, avoidable health complications, and strain on the system.
The stories we hear are brutal. Adults living with infections, broken teeth, and chronic pain, not because they don’t care, but because they can’t pay. That’s where we’re at.
This new research doesn’t pretend we can copy and paste another country’s system. But it does show our current model isn’t the only way this can work.
Dental for All is calling for free, universal, Te Tiriti-consistent oral healthcare in Aotearoa. A fourth report is coming soon, outlining what that policy could look like with the 2026 General Election squarely in view.
Because oral health is health. And health shouldn’t depend on your bank balance.
Read the report at Dental for All here, and listen to RNZ’s interview with report coordinator Kayli Taylor below.
Stunning illustrations by Kahu Kutia