Auckland clinic providing free dental care to homeless

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 24. July 2025

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand: High dental treatment and living costs and growing social inequities have pushed routine dental care out of the reach of many New Zealand adults. For the poorest members of society, additional barriers such as homelessness and distrust of healthcare services may prevent life-saving oral care. A new dental clinic in the country’s largest city aims to address an urgent need for dental treatment among homeless people who make use of the Auckland City Mission, a charitable organisation. According to one of the volunteer dentists, the service is based on holistically meeting the needs of patients who are often experiencing their first elective dental appointment.

State broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported that the clinic opened on 1 July, and a team of 17 dentists provide appointments to mission users three days per week. Volunteer dentist Dr Hugh Trengrove told RNZ that the service is tailored to accommodate the accessibility, cultural and sensory needs of individuals seeking treatment. He explained, “It’s a safe place for them [and] we’re going to provide a service that’s based around the individual needs of the patients.” He added, “It's not only providing dental care; [it’s] providing care in a holistic supported environment where we understand the true needs of the people accessing the care.”

The initiative was founded primarily through donation-based funding that was sufficient to cover the cost of equipment and the salary of one full-time dental assistant. Fees for patient care are being covered by Ministry of Social Development dental grants, which provide some beneficiaries of social assistance with up to NZ$1,000 (€514*) worth of immediate and essential treatment, including dental restorations and the treatment of gingival infections. Exceptions to the funding cap could be made on a case-by-case basis, Dr Trengrove told RNZ.

Brendan Short, Auckland City Mission director for housing and health, said that homelessness made it more difficult to seek dental treatment and that previous negative experiences of healthcare services could result in a general distrust of dental treatment. “The people that we see often have high levels of trauma and are negatively impacted in a range of different aspects by the impact of poverty,” he told RNZ, adding that the service was already being well utilised and that many patients had four to five appointments in their treatment plan.

According to the latest New Zealand Health Survey data, 44.9% of adults in the country have an unmet need for dental care arising from concerns about treatment costs. Cost was more likely to be a barrier to care for Māori and Pacific adults and for those living with a disability or in deprived areas.

Editorial note:

* Calculated using the OANDA platform for 14 July 2025.

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