ENROLMENTS OPEN
Westland High School
South Westland Area School
St Mary's School Hokitika
Kaniere School
Darfield High School
Ellesmere College
Rolleston College
ENROLMENTS OPEN Westland High School South Westland Area School St Mary's School Hokitika Kaniere School Darfield High School Ellesmere College Rolleston College
Quality, respectful dental care right in the heart of your community.
At Mobile Dental Aotearoa, we believe every young person deserves access to high-quality, compassionate dental care, right at their school or community. Serving Te Manawa Taki - Midlands and Te Waipounamu - South Island, we provide FREE dental care for rangatahi - youth, and we make it easy by coming to your school.
Niho pai, mene ora.
Good teeth, healthy smile!
Quality, respectful dental care right in the heart of your community.
At Mobile Dental Aotearoa, we believe every young person deserves access to high-quality, compassionate dental care, right at their school or community. Serving Te Waipounamu - South Island, we provide FREE dental care for rangatahi - youth, and we make it easy by coming to your school.
Niho pai, mene ora.
Good teeth, healthy smile!
Oral health with aroha, delivered with integrity.
All rangatahi - youth deserve good dental care. We are deeply committed to delivering excellent, friendly, inclusive and easy-to-access dental services for your teens, no matter where they are or what their individual needs may be. We put whānau first, priding ourselves on our commitment to informed consent, and offering culturally empowering, respectful care for all rangatahi - youth. We’ve partnered with families and schools to create a welcoming and stress-free experience in our fun, mobile dental clinic.
What you can expect
Under our care, every eligible child is entitled to an annual visit where they will receive a high-quality bundle of dental care using state-of-the-art equipment in a safe, fun environment.
Each annual visit includes:
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Item description
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Enrolment is easy. Click on the link and follow the prompts.
If your child requires further treatment, such as fillings or extractions, we’ll let you know, and another appointment will be made. All treatment will be free.
Good teeth and gums can boost confidence, but did you know good oral health can also have long-term health benefits? The risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes linked to poor oral health can be reduced through early intervention, education, and ongoing, quality care.
The benefits
Healthy teeth, happy hearts.
Getting to appointments can be hard. No transport? No problem! If you live in the Te Waipounamu South Island, our friendly team comes directly to your school or local hub. We go the distance so you don’t have to.
We come to you!
It’s FREE
In Aotearoa New Zealand, if your child is high school aged and under 18 years old, they are entitled to free dental care. Yep, you heard right. You can help boost their confidence, health and wellbeing by enrolling them today, and it will cost you nothing.
Who are we?
Coming to a school near you!
Cheers, Jo & Mel
We’re Jo Lowry and Mel Darlington, and since 2015, we've worked together delivering mobile dental services to many thousands of rangatahi-young people. We lead a highly-qualified team of super-friendly dental professionals to provide welcoming, culturally respectful, inclusive and accessible dental services.
How to enrol
Enrolling your children is easy, and it's free. Simply follow the link below to enrol today, and we'll take care of the rest!
Frequently asked questions
If you’ve explored this list and are still looking for answers, please feel free to get in touch. We’d love to help.
enrolment
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The easiest way is to fill in the enrolment form online.
You can also complete a paper form available at school, or you can download one here and complete it, and email it back to us.
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Youth who are year 9 up to age 17. We can see patients until the day before their 18th birthday. They need to be eligible for publicly funded health care in New Zealand.
Children who are part of the COHS-MDA 2025 partnership
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Fee-paying foreign students
Primary and intermediate students
Patients without an NHI number
Adults
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Yes, as long as you haven’t turned 18 yet.
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Westland High School
South Westland Area School
Kaniere School Yrs 0-7
St Mary’s School Hokitika Yrs 0-7
Darfield High School
Ellesmere College
Rolleston College
Lincoln High School
Kaikoura High School
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No. You will need to choose one provider. If your child was seen this year, and you still want to change providers, we can see them next year.
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Dental care for children aged 0–12 is typically delivered by Community Oral Health Services (COHS). in term 4 2025 MDA is working in partnership with COHS to support a small group of children in Hokitika who are overdue for their annual dental assessment. Once treatment is complete, care will revert back to COHS.
services
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Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora funds ONE dental check-up, including any required treatment per calendar year.
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Dental examination
Dental x-rays
Teeth cleaning
Oral health education
Fluoride treatments and fissure sealants, if required
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Our team consists of Dentists, Dental Therapists, Oral Heath Therapist, and Dental Assistants. Everyone working at Mobile Dental Aotearoa is fully qualified and registered with the Dental Council of New Zealand. All clinicians hold current Annual Practicing Certificates. All staff are police vetted and have a clear Child Worker Safety Check.
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You don’t need to do anything! We travel to your child’s school and will make all necessary arrangements to see your child for their annual check-up.
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It is important to attend all appointments. We understand that sometimes life gets in the way. We will try to make another appointment for you, or you can email us at the address below.
If you miss three appointments, we will try again next year to see you.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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As we are a mobile clinic, we will need to coordinate your care with our movements. Please get in touch with us to make a bespoke plan.
If you need to access care after our dental unit had moved away from your area please call 0800 TALKTEETH 0800 82 55 83 to locate a provider.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
WHAT IS…
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We check the health of all tooth surfaces and surrounding soft tissues like gums, tongue, cheeks and lips. We will discuss our findings and make recommendations.
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We routinely take dental X-rays of teeth to look between the teeth to check for decay, bone health, dental problems or pathology. Our X-rays are small, low-dose, and digital. If you don’t want your child to have dental X-rays, please contact us.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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A fissure sealant is a thin coating of tooth coloured dental material placed on the biting surface of back teeth. The sealant fills up the tiny natural grooves so that food and plaque don’t get stuck in the grooves and cause tooth decay. This treatment only takes a few minutes and does not require a local anaesthetic. If you don’t want your child to have fissure sealants, please contact us.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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Our fluoride treatment is a tasty varnish that we apply to teeth with a small paintbrush. The Fluoride varnish is tooth coloured and hardens tooth enamel to help prevent decay. It is beneficial for patients experiencing decay or who do not have access to fluoridated water supplies. If you don’t want your child to have fluoride treatment, please contact us.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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When a tooth has a cavity from tooth decay, it will need to be restored. There are several different types of filling. The process involves cleaning out the decay and replacing the missing area with new filling material. All our filling materials are tooth coloured. Most fillings will require a local anaesthetic.
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Local anaesthetic is the numbing medicine that we inject to ensure that the treatment we do is not painful. We apply some numbing gel to the gum first to numb the area so the patient does not feel the needle. If your child is fearful of needles, get in touch to let us know.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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A Stainless Steel Crown (SSC) is a silver coloured cap that is put over decay on baby teeth. The SSC is made from nickel and chrome. It is glued onto the tooth and stays on until the tooth wiggles out naturally. We make room for the SSC by placing spacer bands between the teeth the day before. SSC can usually be placed without the need for local anaesthetic.
general
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Absolutely not. By enrolling your child, you are consenting to the dental exam, x-rays, teeth cleaning, fissure sealants and fluoride. If there is any part of the check-up you do not consent to, please get in touch with us. If your child requires further treatment, we will make contact with you to ensure both you and your child are fully informed and have the opportunity to ask any questions before any treatment is undertaken. A treatment appointment will be made and sent to you.
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We have strong health information protocols to ensure the security of patient data and patient information privacy. All patient data is stored securely in the cloud. Our cloud-based dental software is hosted by servers located in the European Union. Sorted data can only be accessed with two-factor authentication. No patient data is stored on a local server or hardware located in the dental truck facility.
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We can see many children with special needs. Our dental unit has an automated wheelchair lift. Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss your child’s specific needs.
Email us at: contact@mobiledental.org.nz
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No. Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand does not fund orthodontic treatment. As part of the dental exam, we check teeth for crowding, malocclusion and dental abnormalities. We will advise if we recommend an orthodontic assessment. Any orthodontic assessment will need to be paid for privately.
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Visit: www.orthodontists.org.nz
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Our focus is on high school students. We are hugely experienced in working with this patient group. Our mobile unit can travel to places that may not have a family dentist.
FOR SCHOOLS
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Our dental service looks after schools in Te Wai Pounamu- South Island.
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We would love to come to your school and care for your students. Please email us.
Mel: mel@mobiledental.org.nz
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Good access to a stable paved area to park our large dental unit. The dental unit is 14 metres long and 5 metres wide.
Access to running water.
Access to power via an external round 3-prong pin 32-amp single-phase power outlet.
We have an onboard generator for remote locations
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Prior to our arrival we ask that our visit is signalled via school notices to parents and whanau so every student has the opportunity to enrol.
We ask that we are provided with a school list with contact details and class time-tables so our runner can locate students.
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All patient records and related administrative processes and systems meet legislative and accepted professional and/or sector standards. Specifically, our systems are compliant with:
HISO 10029:2022 Health Information Security Framework (Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora)
HISO 10029.2:2023 Health Information Security Framework Guidance for Micro to Small Organisations (Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora)
Health Information Privacy Code 2020 (Privacy Commissioner - Te Mana Mātāpono Matatapu)
Preserve records properly in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996.