Timaru Herald: Fighting for teeth: South Canterbury's dental crisis
A Timaru dentist says he's become accustomed to removing 100 teeth in a morning, while children as young as three are presenting with such severe decay they need all their teeth removed.
Speaking at Kaitiaki Hauora's Save Our Public Healthcare Roady meeting in Timaru, dentist Fraser Dunbar described a dental system failing children from the very beginning.
He said South Canterbury once had seven school dental therapists. By 2025, that had fallen to just 0.8 of a full-time position. Secondary school dental attendance had dropped from 97.5% to 65%, while around 200 children each year required a general anaesthetic for dental treatment at Timaru Hospital.
Dunbar said the consequences were following people into adulthood, with some patients in their twenties presenting to hospital needing all their teeth removed.
Severe dental infections could also require emergency helicopter transfers to Christchurch, surgery and intensive care, placing further pressure on an already stretched health system.
We know prevention works. We used to do it. So how did we end up here?
