In July, the Mission opened a new dental service in our Calder Health Centre. Auckland based dentist, Dr Hugh Trengrove, has been involved with the project for some years. He has been sharing his expertise to help us create the best model of care for our community and has taken on the role of clinical lead.  

“I believe everybody deserves access to good oral health services. But at the moment in New Zealand, dental care is just not accessible for many adults and in particular the most vulnerable people – like the people the Mission works with. This project is a tremendous opportunity to change that.” 

“Oral health is important, not only as part of general health, but also for people’s social and emotional wellbeing.” 

“There’s a whole range of impacts of poor oral health, which I think we underestimate. It can impact sleep, social relationships, your ability to feel good about yourself. It can impact your ability to follow a daily routine, to go to work, to even get a job. And there’s a whole stack of health problems that can be adversely affected by oral health including cardiovascular diseases.” 

“Cost is a major barrier [to people accessing dental treatment], but barriers also include how we deliver the care, where we deliver the care, and who the care is delivered by.” 

The new dental service will provide low-cost, trauma-informed care for the Mission community: 

“Patients will be coming into a familiar, supportive environment. They’ll feel cared for, they’ll feel that they’re getting a well thought-through, compassionate service, which is focused on them as an individual.” 

“This model will provide preventative-based care with a focus on making the individual as orally healthy as they can be. The aim is to reduce the chance of dental problems occurring in the future. So it’s not just a simple tooth extraction model.” 

Hugh, who has experience in private and public practice (including the New Zealand Defence Force) and is a member of the Dental for All coalition, is volunteering his time as clinical lead for the Mission’s dental clinic. 

“I’ve been providing a wee bit of the dental specific expertise that goes into developing a service like this, and encouraging other [volunteer] dentists to get involved.  My role going forward will be supporting the dentists and supporting the development of the clinical services so that we provide the right model of care for the right people.” 

“I see this as an opportunity to give back a little and help establish something that will make a long-term difference.”