TE NIHO: Te Hiku Dental Initiative Bites Down On Oral Healthcare Reform In The Far North

The critical needs of tamariki and taitamariki are taking centre stage in a dental initiative designed to reset oral health in Te Hiku.

The Te Niho initiative is one of 13 supported by Te Whatu Ora through the Taikorihi Locality – a prototype set up under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 to influence and inform the future of public health investment in the area extending from Hokianga to Te Rerenga Wairua.

Led out by Te Hiku Hauora, Te Niho is an initiative that launched last year to relieve inaccessibility issues in the Far North and gain insights into the prevalence of oral-related non-communicable diseases.

Te Hiku Hauora CEO Dr Maria Baker says the Māori health provider commissioned Dr Natalie Burkhardt to steam through a dental health blitz that saw over 200 whānau receive free treatment for a variety of dental health needs and ailments.

Maria says Dr Burkhart's tireless dedication saw her provide life changing care to hundreds of whānau over a demanding month.

She adds the toll of whānau of not being able to access dental services in Te Hiku rests heaviest on its most vulnerable – children aged up to 12 years old.

“There are huge issues in Te Tai Tokerau around the oral caries for kids and our babies. The responsibility on Te Whatu Ora is massive, if you think about where the resource needs to come for that younger age group.

If we think about all the school-based and hospital-based oral healthcare services in place, our babies are still the ones that are going to go under anesthetic and all the rest of it to get their teeth pulled out. Something needs to shift around Te Whatu Ora’s responsibilities,” she says.

She adds that Te Hiku Hauora has access to funding through ACC for wāhine requiring dental treatment following any kind of trauma, including family harm. “This is something that we’ve just started, and we’ve seen 30 wāhine so far,” she says.

A comprehensive assessment report of the current landscape in dental care – including challenges, barriers to access, current investment levels and identification of current system gaps – is currently in development for release this year.

Pivot Consulting Director Dr Anna Sutton, who has undertaken the research and literature review for the report, describes the current state of service availability in the Far North as “depressing.”

“We did a stock take of dental services and there are a number, but they are all inundated. I think it will take three to five years to achieve capacity in Te Hiku, even if we start to train our own today,” she says.

Key recommendations to government from the Te Niho report include more community-based initiatives targeting tamariki and taitamariki Māori, coordinated approaches between existing dental health services to address equity gaps, the development of a Te Tai Tokerau-wide oral health workforce strategy, and a review of the choice, access and efficiency of oral healthcare service delivery to Māori in Te Hiku.

Taikorihi Programme Manager JJ Ripikoi says dental health was a feature of a considerable number of Localities across New Zealand when they were initially set up to help redesign their local health systems.

He says the data and insights from the Te Niho initiative will be combined with evidence from the other 12 Taikorihi initiatives to produce a social impact report of the Taikorihi Locality on health investment in Te Hiku.

For more information on the Taikorihi Locality, visit www.taikorihi.co.nz.

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