Free dental care up to 18
Basic dental care in New Zealand is free for children and teenagers up to their 18th birthday. We are a registered provider for adolescents under the scheme, so there is no cost to you for routine examinations, cleaning and standard treatment.
First visits
Bring them earlier than you think. A first visit around the time the first teeth appear, or by their first birthday, is mostly about getting them used to the chair - a look, a count, a ride up and down. Nothing that frightens anyone.
Once they are comfortable, check-ups do the real work: catching decay early, watching how adult teeth are coming through, and applying fluoride or fissure sealants where they will help.
Knocked-out and broken teeth
Children knock teeth out - off bikes, off scooters, on the field. If an adult tooth is knocked out, it is genuinely urgent: handle it by the crown not the root, keep it in milk or the child's saliva, and ring us straight away. Getting it back in within the hour makes a real difference.
For a baby tooth, do not try to put it back. Still ring us so we can check nothing else was damaged.
