In 2019, more than 40 per cent of 5-year-olds in New Zealand had tooth decay. Ministry of Health data shows between 2001 and 2016, the number of 0 to 14-year-olds requiring general anaesthetic for rotten teeth removal increased from 4500 to 7500. One hundred years since the school dental service was established in this country in 1921, our children’s teeth are falling through the gaps.
Chris Skelton/Stuff
Dr Arun Natarajan, left, a paediatric dental specialist at Christchurch Hospital, performs extractions on a 3-year-old child who underwent anaesthesia to have 10 rotten teeth removed. For more than eight decades, dental nurses managed an often-dreaded regime of dental checks and drills, cotton wool angels and amalgam, usually from small wooden buildings or allocated rooms on the school grounds.