August 2025 - Oral Health Inequity: ACC Excludes Qualified Dental Practitioners from Providing Injury Care
Media Release
4 August 2025
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – the New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) is calling for urgent reform to ACC’s health provider policy, which continues to exclude oral health therapists and dental therapists from being recognised as Registered Health Professionals under ACC legislation.
This outdated policy means that thousands of skilled, regulated oral health practitioners cannot provide or claim injury-related dental care under ACC—despite being vital to the delivery of dental services across Aotearoa.
“These are qualified clinicians who are educated, licensed, and already serving communities every day,” says Anna Holyoake, President of NZOHA. “To exclude them from the ACC system is not only illogical—it directly harms access to care, especially in rural and underserved populations.”
Who Are These Professionals?
Both professions are registered with the Dental Council of New Zealand and hold Annual Practising Certificates. They work within clearly defined scopes of practice:
Oral Health Therapists provide hygiene and restorative care, especially for children and adolescents.
Dental Therapists often work in schools or public health to deliver essential services for tamariki.
Yet these practitioners aren’t recognised under ACC legislation to provide injury-related dental care—despite being trained and competent to do so.
The Impact of Exclusion
This policy creates unnecessary bottlenecks in the system. Patients who could be treated by a Dental Therapists or Oral Health Therapist are instead referred elsewhere, causing delays, higher costs, and further strain on the dental workforce.
“We’re in the middle of an oral health crisis,” Holyoake says. “We need all hands-on deck. Excluding an entire group of regulated professionals is a failure of health policy and a disservice to New Zealanders.”
A Call for Fairness and Reform
NZOHA is urging ACC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to immediately review and update its health provider framework to reflect modern, team-based oral healthcare.
Recognising oral health therapists and dental therapists under ACC would:
Expand access to timely dental care
Reduce pressure on overburdened dental services
Improve equity—especially for Māori, Pacific, rural, and low-income populations
“This is about creating a fairer, more efficient system that reflects how oral health care is actually delivered in Aotearoa,” Holyoake says. “We’re not asking for special treatment—we’re asking for recognition of what’s already happening on the ground.”
Next Steps
NZOHA welcomes dialogue with ACC, MBIE, and other health stakeholders to modernise this policy and ensure all New Zealanders can access the care they need—when and where they need it.
NZOHA also represents Dental Hygienists who focus on prevention and periodontal (gum) health.
July 2025 - First graduates of adult scope programme
Media Release
9 July 2025
Historic Milestone: First Graduates of Adult Dental Care Programme Set to Transform Access to Oral Health in Aotearoa
NZOHA celebrates the first cohort of oral health therapists and dental therapists trained to deliver adult restorative care.
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) congratulates the first graduating class of the University of Otago’s Postgraduate Certificate in Health Sciences (Adult Restorative Dental Care)—a pivotal step in tackling Aotearoa’s oral health inequities.
This inaugural cohort includes both oral health therapists and dental therapists who have completed advanced clinical training in adult restorative dentistry. Their achievement signals a major opportunity to bridge persistent gaps in dental care—particularly for Māori, Pacific, rural, and low-income populations who have historically struggled to access timely and affordable treatment.
“This programme is a turning point,” says NZOHA President Anna Holyoake. “It enables skilled clinicians—many already embedded in public, rural and community services—to provide much-needed restorative care to adults who have fallen through the cracks of our current system.”
Access to basic dental services for adults in New Zealand remains a significant public health concern. Research shows New Zealand exhibits the highest levels of socioeconomic inequality in untreated dental decay among adults when compared to Australia, Canada, and the United States. These disparities are particularly pronounced among Māori, Pacific peoples, and individuals residing in high-deprivation areas. By upskilling oral health therapists and dental therapists to provide basic adult restorative care, this programme directly addresses these inequities, enabling a more equitable distribution of dental services across underserved communities.
NZOHA Vice President and student in this first cohort Samuel Carrington highlights the broader impact of this initiative:
“This is about more than just upskilling—it's about restoring dignity and equity,” says NZOHA Vice President and programme graduate Samuel Carrington. “We’re bringing essential dental care to places where it’s been missing for too long.”
NZOHA applauds the University of Otago for its leadership in developing this programme and commends the clinicians who undertook this training while continuing to serve their communities. We look forward to seeing the expansion of this initiative and the long-term impact it will have in reducing oral health inequities in Aotearoa.
About NZOHA
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – the New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) represents over 1,000 registered oral health therapists, dental therapists, and dental hygienists working across both the public and private sectors throughout Aotearoa.
Established to support and advocate for these professions, NZOHA promotes their interests, advances their professional standing, and champions their essential role in delivering oral health care.
Our profession has deep roots in New Zealand’s health system—beginning with the establishment of the School Dental Service in 1921, expanding to include dental hygiene in the 1970s, and now encompassing highly trained oral health therapists serving communities across the motu in both Te Whatu Ora and private practice.
May 2025 - “Delays in Child Dental Surgery a Symptom of a System in Crisis,” says Oral Health Academic & NZOHA Vice-President
Media Release
29 May 2025
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – New Zealand Oral Health Association is calling for urgent action to address a worsening crisis in children's access to urgent dental surgery. New data reveals that more than half of tamariki on the public hospital dental waitlist have been waiting over four months for treatment.
Health NZ data from March shows that 5,564 children aged 14 and under are currently waiting for hospital dental care—2,942 of them for more than 120 days. Samuel Carrington (Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hurungaterangi), a senior lecturer in oral health and Associate Dean Māori at the University of Otago, says these delays reflect deep systemic inequities.
“These aren’t just numbers — they’re children living in pain, missing school, and often going through repeat antibiotics while they wait,” says Carrington.
“Many of these cases could have been prevented entirely with early access to community care. The fact that Māori and Pasifika children are overrepresented on these waitlists tells us this is not just a clinical issue — it’s a matter of equity.”
Carrington attributes the backlog to a combination of COVID-19 disruptions, a national shortage of oral health professionals in the community oral health service, and chronic underinvestment in prevention-focused, publicly funded dental care.
“The public system is doing its best under pressure, with oral health therapists and dental therapists in the community oral health service doing an amazing job with the resources they have,” he says. “But we need to stop patching a broken system and instead build one that prevents tamariki needing surgery in the first place.”
Calls for Action
Carrington is urging Health NZ and the Ministry of Health to take a dual approach—clearing the current backlog while addressing long-term workforce and access issues:
Expand mobile surgical and outsourced services to reduce waitlists
Invest in prevention: fluoride varnish, outreach in kōhanga reo, and school-based care
Grow the oral health workforce, especially by training Māori and Pacific oral health therapists closer to home
Recognise oral health therapists and dental therapists as ACC providers for dental trauma
“Right now, oral health therapists like myself are trained to treat dental trauma — like a chipped or avulsed tooth — but we can’t provide ACC-funded care,” Carrington explains.
“This creates delays, forces unnecessary referrals, and particularly disadvantages tamariki seen in schools or rural clinics. That restriction could be lifted tomorrow.”
A System Isn’t Truly Free If You Can’t Access It
While dental care for children is publicly funded, Carrington says long delays in treatment lead to emotional and financial strain on whānau.
“Some whānau are forced into the private system where a single surgery can cost up to $6,000. Even staying in the public system comes with hidden costs — travel, time off work, pain relief, and multiple GP visits. A free system is only fair if it’s accessible.”
He says oral health must no longer be treated as an afterthought in policy and funding decisions.
“Oral health is essential to overall health. If we want equity in Aotearoa, our oral health system needs to reflect that — in policy, in funding, and in action.”
May 2022 - The NZOHA supports industrial action by the Public Sector Oral Health Therapists and Dental Therapists.
Media Release
16 May 2022
The NZOHA supports industrial action by the Public Sector Oral Health Therapists and Dental Therapists.
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – The New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) is supporting our members in the Community Oral Health Service (COHS) by taking industrial action by members of the Public Service Association calling for better working conditions, more recognition of oral health and better wages.
NZOHA President Anna Holyoake says members of the NZOHA are the backbone of the COHS, and without oral health therapists and dental therapists working hard every day in an already constrained service, tamariki and rangatahi oral health in Aotearoa would be a lot worse off.
“Our members are sick and tired of not having the recognition they deserve for all the hard work they do in trying to get the oral health of our children under control in Aotearoa. DHBs need to hurry and come to the table with a better offer of pay for them”
“New graduate oral health therapists coming into the COHS get pennies, 80 cents more than the minimum wage after completing a professional qualification degree at University. They come out with big student loans and are offered 80 cents more than the minimum wage. Name me another health profession where the pay is so low, I do not think there is one” said Anna.
“The starting wage for a new graduate oral health therapist in the COHS is insulting. Our members do not go to work in the COHS for the money, but to help the children. Unfortunately love for the job does not pay the bills, that is why the COHS is losing clinicians to private practice” says Samuel Carrington, NZOHA Executive member.
“The government needs to come to the table and offer our COHS clinicians the pay they deserve. It is completely unsustainable to continue with the status quo as it will be our children who suffer. And that is unacceptable” said Samuel.
May 2022 - COHS struggling due to inadequate pay and lack of recognition
Media Release
8 May 2022
COHS struggling due to inadequate pay and lack of recognition
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – The New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) is the national association which represents oral health therapists, dental therapists and dental hygienists. The Community Oral Health Service (COHS) has our members working at the coalface within community clinics and see tamariki and rangatahi in our clinics turning up in pain.
“A really obvious reason why the COHS is struggling is inadequate pay and lack of recognition for dental and oral health therapists within the service” says Anna Holyoake, NZOHA President. “There is a huge issue of recruitment and retention within the service nationwide. Oral health therapists are faced with coming out of their three-year University professional programme with a Bachelor’s degree and being offered a job within the DHB which pays them 80 cents more than the minimum wage per hour, or go to private practice and earn well over double that per hour. It is a no brainer where they would go really”.
Working in private practice does not mean the working conditions are better either i. “Unfortunately, oral health care in Aotearoa New Zealand is still one of the only health services where there is still a requirement for a fee, even in emergency dire situations. Anecdotal evidence from our members shows regardless of working in the public or private sector, there is lack of professional recognition of what exactly oral health therapists can do. How would you like to go to work knowing your boss doesn’t know exactly what skillset you have? These are what our members are faced with daily” says Samuel Carrington, NZOHA Executive Member.
“Our association has been warning DHBs for years about the major pay discrepancy between the public and private sectors and this being one of the main reasons why they were finding it hard to retain oral health therapists. The issues we are seeing today with major wait times nationwide have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were around well before then” says Samuel.
“Even within the Allied Health professions, because our members aren’t usually working in hospitals where allied health professionals usually work, there is that disconnect where we are not really seen as allied health.” says Anna.
“The most obvious short-term solution would be to give dental and oral health therapists the pay they are deserved, but we also think dentists should come and work within the community clinics too. Help our members by being at the coalface of this dental epidemic.”.
March 2022 - NZ Oral Health Association Supports DHB Members Striking Today
Media Release
4 March 2022
NZ Oral Health Association Supports DHB Members Striking Today
Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – The New Zealand Oral Health Association (NZOHA) supports our members who will be joining the nationwide strike of allied, public health, scientific and technical professionals who work in District Health Boards (DHBs) after 15 months of unsuccessful negotiations.
Oral health therapists and dental therapists are the pioneers for treating child and adolescent children in Aotearoa. Their hard work in the Community Oral Health Service throughout Aotearoa has gone unappreciated by the DHBs for far too long. Many oral health therapists are now choosing to work in private practices because they are getting over double the hourly rate the DHBs are paying.
“It is shocking to us as an organisation that our members are undervalued in their pay. Our members have formal qualifications from Universities, and they start in the DHB on less than $25 an hour. The pay inequities need to be eliminated immediately. The DHBs need to recognise the hard mahi dental and oral health therapists play in being a mid-level dental providers and the important dental prevention they provide” says NZOHA President Anna Holyoake.
“Currently we are seeing massive arrears in all areas throughout Aotearoa for basic examinations. The underinvestment in child and adolescent oral health coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic just added to the workload for our members. Dental and oral health therapists are overworked, undervalued and understaffed. We stand with them today in solidary for better working conditions, more resourcing and more recognition as cornerstone allied health professionals.”

Contact us with any questions or to join NZOHA
Key Links
Thank you to the Clare Foundation for supporting Te Ohu Pūniho Ora o Aotearoa – New Zealand Oral Health
