A nationwide shortage of dentists is impacting Central, with local practices reporting three month waits for appointments. 

Central Dental practice manager Ben Paterson said they have been short by two dentists since the start of 2024.

Ben said for Cromwell the wait was about four to six weeks for an appointment.

“In Alexandra it’s booked out until halfway through June.”

The practice has been advertising but Ben said they can’t compete with overseas.

“Our job ads are lost in a sea of others.

“On the New Zealand Dental Association website there are hundreds of ads.”

The shortage has become widespread that Ben said “even Auckland is struggling for dentists.”

Ben said that neighbouring districts' problems are spilling over into Central, as patients were travelling from Invercargill for treatment, and people from Queenstown were coming to Central for appointments.

His message for locals is to make sure you are continuing with regular checkups and dental care.

“We are trying to look after our own patients first . . . if you have an emergency it’s a matter of ringing around . . . there might be cancellations as there is a bit of Covid-19 still around.”

Tarbert St Dental Surgery business owner and dental hygienist Emma Ishikawa said a few times a day they get phone calls or people popping in trying to get appointments.

The business is also advertising for a dentist and have been for the past few years, with only a few applications coming in.

Emma said they haven’t taken on any new patients since 2020.

“We were lucky and got a wonderful dentist last year who is full time.”

One of the Tarbert St Dental team dentists, Mark Smith, is splitting his time between New Zealand and the United Kingdom currently, but Emma said they are committed to looking after their enrolled patients and informing them that checkups may be slightly delayed.

“If it’s an emergency, [for our patients] we will get you in within a day or so.”

Emma said the main challenge in getting dentists to relocate to Central was accommodation.

“I’ve spent more than 20 hours [in the past] trying to find accommodation for a locum dentist . . . it was the expense of it, then there was no flexibility around it.

“We are looking at buying a place now, so we could rent it to a locum dentist.”

Emma said they were a family run business, their staff were treated like family and everyone took great pride in their work, so not just anyone can join their team.

“Friends of friends, and word of mouth” might just help with the shortage and she was hoping a dentist “popped out of the woodwork” to ease the waiting times.

For dental emergencies in Central there is an on-call roster running on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. If you have an emergency after hours phone 03 746 6157 for help.