In what is believed to be a New Zealand first, school oral health clinics will be used to treat vulnerable adults' dental problems from next month.
Programme clinical director Dr Tim Mackay said the Southern Primary Health Organisation initiative would use spare capacity in Otago and Southland school oral health hubs.
First signalled a couple of years ago, the programme for low-income adults was only just getting started.
It would assist people with serious dental problems, rather than doing preventive work.
''They've got holes in their teeth, they've got abscesses, they've got pain,'' he said of those who would be eligible.
Alleviating oral health problems improved general health too, he said.
The school dental service had been overhauled in recent years and now operated from a few fixed clinics, as well as mobile clinics. Now that the new system was established, the fixed clinics could be utilised for the adult programme.
It was expected about 180 patients would have four visits each during the year-long programme. The nature of the demand was unknown, although Dr Mackay did not think the scheme's $200,000 funding would be enough to treat everyone who could not afford dental care.
It was unknown how many of the referred would be employed, which would affect what time of day they could be treated.
A handful of referrals had been received already from GPs.
GPs knew their patients and had a good sense of whether they could afford to pay for their own care, he said. Formal criteria for assessing high-needs adults would also be used.
Dr Mackay would compile a report next year detailing the treatments required, which he hoped could influence the development of a nationwide scheme for adults.
Dr Mackay, a dental public health specialist based in Invercargill, is clinical director of the Southern District Health Board's oral health service. A health board dentist would provide the service in Dunedin from the South Dunedin dental hub at Bathgate Park School.
Dr Mackay believed the programme was a New Zealand first, both in using primary health funding for a dental programme in the community, and in utilising children's oral health facilities.
