Australia looks to NZ dentists to help fill gap

Australia is looking to New Zealand to plug the holes in its dental system left by a shortage of dentists.

About 215,000 people are on the public dental waiting list in New South Wales, the Australian newspaper reports.

A 65-year-old rural NSW woman, frustrated at not being able to get an appointment, had taken the pliers to her own tooth after sleepless nights became too much to bear.

"I said it was really urgent, that I needed the tooth out today," Val Shorter said. "That was about 9am. They said they would ring me. By 5pm, they hadn't called, so I knew I wasn't going to get in."

Health Minister John Hatzistergos said a campaign was under way to hire 30 dentists from Britain, Ireland and New Zealand, the newspaper reported.

He blamed the federal Government's failure to fund adequate training places for the shortage of public dentists.

"This terrible story highlights the lack of public dentists across the state."

New Zealand has had its own troubles with dental treatment.

The Colgate Oral Health Month Survey of 8849 people undertaken in June and July revealed only 58 per cent of New Zealanders cleaned their teeth at least twice a day.

At nearly 40 per cent, New Zealanders had the lowest rate of visiting the dentist on a regular annual basis, with cost a major reason.

The Government in August announced about $40 million to rebuild state-funded dental services over the next four years for children and teenagers.

In Australia, Ms Shorter said she drank a few glasses of wine before taking to the tooth with the pliers.

"When I first began loosening it, tears started coming out of my eyes," she said.

"But then it got to the point of no return.

"With a bit of Dutch courage, I loosened the tooth one way, then the other, and leaned forward.

"My knees hit the floor, the pliers hit the floor and the tooth hit the cupboard."

- NZPA