The Southern Primary Health Organisation last year controversially decided to put up to $250,000 into "high needs" adult dentistry, a move some in the sector thought did not fit with prevention.
It was the first New Zealand PHO to propose such a programme.
However, the dental programme would not start until July 12, with the balance carried over to the new financial year, PHO chief executive Ian Macara said, and it had been expanded to all ages, not just adults.
High-needs people are classed as those of Maori and Pacific Island descent and those living in areas of high deprivation.
Mr Macara said the delay was due to detailed planning work on how the programme would be delivered, and to whom.
Of the $250,000, $4000 had been spent, on a dental clinic upgrade at Brockville School in Dunedin.
Referral criteria were being finalised.
Initially, patients would have been referred at hospital emergency departments, but this had changed to primary care referrals.
Dunedin GP Dr Susie Lawless said more free access to dental care should be centrally funded as a medical health need.
A small number of patients had serious dental problems that affected their health.
Ailments included serious gum disease and dental abscesses.
She believed there was a problem with allocating entitlements based on a patient's address (if they did not fit the ethnic criteria), because people on low incomes did not all live in one place.
Presbyterian Support Otago chief executive Gillian Bremner said that while there were people struggling to afford dental care, she believed the greater issue was GP fees.
Some people were not going to the doctor when they should, because of the cost, she said.
Mrs Bremner and Dr Lawless agreed the University of Otago's Dunedin School of Dentistry helped people access procedures without paying full cost.
