Basic dental care is free until your child is 18.
Basic dental care is free for all tamariki until they turn 18. To enrol them with your local Community Oral Health Service, call 0800 TALK TEETH (0800 825 583).
Enrol your child as early as possible so you can arrange their first check-up.
Your midwife or nurse will be able to help you to enrol your baby. The service is free and supports you and your whānau to care for your child's teeth.
Call 0800 TALK TEETH (0800 825 583) to enrol your child. The Talk Teeth team will help guide you through the process, and send you the right forms to fill in.
If your child is a preschooler or at primary school, fill in the forms and post them to your local oral health service.
If your child is older, they'll see a dentist in the community. Sometimes a dentist may not have a contract with Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand to provide free care to the community. If that's the case, call 0800 TALK TEETH (0800 825 583) and the team will help you find a local dentist for your child.
Your child's first visit will usually be between their first and second birthdays. Dental staff will let you know the time of your appointment when you enrol.
It's important you take your child for regular check-ups and do not wait until problems happen.
Try to book an appointment for a time when they won't be too tired, and use positive language, such as "we're keeping your teeth healthy".
Find out more about dental care in New Zealand. [1]
Watch a video about free oral health care for children in New Zealand (Bee Healthy Regional Dental Service, Wellington). Call 0800 TALK TEETH to enrol your child or book an appointment with your local oral health service.
Standard treatments are free and include:
If your child needs extra treatments, you'll get a referral to another oral health service provider.
Many treatments will still be free, but you'll need to pay for some treatments - such as orthodontics (which includes braces on teeth).
Talk to your local oral health service about the costs and payment options.
Healthy teeth = a healthy smile. Follow these 5 steps to protect your child’s smile.
Check out which toothpaste to use, and which ones to avoid (PDF, 5.3MB) [2].
Your child's teeth are at risk of tooth decay (holes) as soon as their teeth appear - this is usually at around 6 months. Tooth decay is easy to prevent by:
Your Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse will regularly check your child's teeth and talk to you about how to keep them healthy.
The content on this page is largely based on the Ministry of Health webpage 'Publicly funded dental care' [4].
It has also been reproduced from the pregnancy and kids section of the Ministry of Health's website [5].
This page last reviewed 29 April 2022.
Email us [6] your feedback
Links
[1] https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/visiting-dentist/publicly-funded-dental-care
[2] https://www.beehealthy.org.nz/assets/resources/toothpaste-chart.pdf
[3] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/tags/teeth
[4] https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/visiting-dentist/publicly-funded-dental-care?msclkid=f1628517c69711ecbedf3b73be29d55f
[5] http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/pregnancy-and-kids?mega=Your%20health&title=Pregnancy%20and%20kids
[6] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F2033%3Flanguage%3Dzh-hant