Salient

Welfare

By Chris Renwick | 2 Apr, 2007

Kia ora and welcome to this week’s column.

This week’s topic is dentists. At some time in our lives, we will all need them - even if most of us hate the thought of paying them a visit, and forget about them - until we wake up with an aching tooth.

Here is the news about three local affordable dental services: The first of these is Wellington Hospital’s Dental and Oral Health Department, in Newtown (ph: 385-5967). This place offers only the most basic dental care and emergency pain relief, which means that instead of doing root canal fillings they will extract your tooth. Having used them over the last couple of years, it is worth noting that to qualify, one needs to have a community service card or a referral letter from your doctor (or another dentist). Hospital patients have the first priority and you are likely to find that you have been re-booked with a different dentist that the one which you expected to see.

The Student Services Group approved dentists, Symes de Silva & Associates, are on Courtenay Place (ph: 801-5551). The largest dental practice in Wellington, they have eight dentists and two dental therapists, and they’re open seven days a week (including four late nights). They offer a 20% discount after the first appointment. They provide a personalised and caring service, including reminder phone calls before appointments.

The Wellington People’s Centre Dental Service in Luke’s Lane (ph: 385-8596) also provides a cheap dental service to members.

Membership for the WPC costs $2.50 per week and provides access to what their website claims is the lowest cost, quality dentist in Wellington.

Everybody should visit the dentist at least a year. And the (up to) $300 cost for a year is subject to the normal criteria - of it being for emergency treatment and having no money to pay for it.