A new dental health hub will be operating in Masterton early next year - six years since discussions about the centre began.
Construction of the $500,000 oral health centre at Masterton Intermediate School was to start this week and is expected to finish by the end of the year.
It will be a central base for Wairarapa's oral health services for 0 to 13-year-olds, supporting the two mobile services which go to schools as far out as Tinui.
Seven staff, including dental therapists, dental assistants, an adolescent oral health coordinator, administrator and clinical team leader, will be based in the two-chair treatment clinic.
Oral Health Services clinical team leader Lynnette Field said school dental services had been reviewed nationally over the past few years with the Government committing $146 million a year to children and young people's dental health.