But South Island dentist Craig Waterhouse has made an exception after Labour released its new dental policy at the weekend — a policy he is already raising major concerns about.
The policy proposes free dental care covering annual check-ups, teeth cleaning, basic fillings and extractions for 18 to 23-year-olds from July 2025, and then to those under 30 the following year.
Free dental is already available to those under 18.
The dental policy is being pitched as the beginning of "the journey" towards universal free dental care, and aims to raise the dental training cap by 50%.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said in its first 100 days, a Labour government would also launch a campaign to recruit more dental workers from overseas.
Labour recently rejected calls for universal free dental as being far too expensive.
This policy is costed at $390 million over four years, reflecting the delay in implementing it fully until 2026, and limiting it to those under 30.
Once in place, it would cover about 800,000 New Zealanders.
However, Mr Waterhouse believed if the government did not provide dentists with enough money to do the work, and put the fees on a scale that matched inflation and rising costs, it could be the downfall of the initiative.
Dentists were already contracted by the government to do dentistry work on children aged up to 18, but less than 50% of the country’s dentists did the work because the government did not pay enough.
"The government pays way below what the fees are," the Dunedin dentist said.
"The main reason so few dentists do the work is business reasons — it doesn’t make economic sense to have that contract, because they don’t pay us enough."
"If you had a dental practice that solely relied on treating under 18-year-olds, it would not be economically viable."
The same system had already been in place for decades in the United Kingdom.
"It was called the National Health System. There’s not exactly a universal uptake from the dentists in the UK.
"There’s been many who have dropped out of it because they don’t increase the fees with inflation and rising costs."
To make the initiative viable, the government needed to pay the going rate and it needed to be reassessed annually on a consumer price index.
"With the current contracts with the Ministry of Health that we have, they do not have that adjustment every year.
"I’d need to see more details on the new policy before I say any more on that."
Dentists liked the idea of the government training more dentists, but again he was concerned about whether enough funding would be given to training facilities such as the Otago Dental School.
"For the general public, I think the idea is absolutely great.
"But there’s a lot of detail that hasn’t been released yet, so that’s why I have a reserved opinion.
"I want to see the detail of the contracts that will be offered."
During the policy launch on Saturday, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall said poor oral health had "a lasting impact on both mental and physical health" and could lead to avoidable hospitalisations.
The party would work collaboratively with health agencies, regulatory and professional bodies to make sure the country had the oral health therapists, dental hygienists and dentists it needed.
Mr Hipkins said New Zealand had some of the highest recorded rates of unmet need for adult dental care — overwhelmingly because of cost.
"In 2022 alone, 1.5 million Kiwis didn’t visit a dentist because it was just too expensive.
"Children and young people currently have access to free basic dental services but as soon as they turn 18, they face big bills and often drop out of the system."
The age targets were because tooth decay tended to start in the 20s, and acting on them would help prevent health issues down the line.
By the end of the next electoral term, if Labour was re-elected, nearly 40% of all New Zealanders would have access to free dental care.
"Successive Labour governments will expand the commitment, based on workforce, healthcare capacity and fiscal settings."
He had now announced eight parts of Labour’s 10-point plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
