It claimed the CDA contract was being underfunded by about $60m annually, stating the 19 treatments covered by the agreement were being funded less than individual market rates, with the shortfall between $20 and $750 per treatment. <\/p>\n
It raised concerns about the way funding increases were being measured, most notably it claimed Health New Zealand wasn\u2019t using the Statistics New Zealand CPI \u2013 Dental services index when adjusting CDA rates. <\/p>\n
It also pointed out that between 2017 and 2024 the number of dental practitioners delivering CDA services dropped by 10%. <\/p>\n
Excell also runs a private dental clinic in Lower Hutt. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, what we effectively do is charge our private patients more in order to subsidise [teenagers], because we want to keep seeing the adolescents in our community. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a goodwill thing. That\u2019s the model that this system is based on. It is based on the goodwill of dentists wanting to provide the care for that cohort of patients,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Dr Ngareka Bensemann owns a private clinic in One Tree Hill, south of Whang\u0101rei, and also runs a mobile clinic servicing five secondary schools. <\/p>\n
She said annual reviews of the CDA have not delivered adequate funding. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever they do uplifts, it\u2019s by a minimal amount, like 1 or 2%, if that. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard because as dentists and health professionals, we really want to improve the oral health of children and adolescents. But it\u2019s really difficult when you are trying to run a business and it ends up being at a loss,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Bensemenn also reports there has been a rise in complex cases among teens, which she believes contributes to the need for more CDA funding. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe current model was designed for general dentists to continue care from what the public health service provides to under-13-year-olds. They\u2019re meant to get the children up to scratch, so that when they finish Year 8 and they move on to the CDA contract, we\u2019re kind of just doing maintenance and the odd treatment to get them through till they\u2019re 18,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
According to Bensemann, kids aren\u2019t entering high school with well-maintained teeth. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of care that they need when we see them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we see some of them come to the clinic, and they\u2019re in the pain state or they haven\u2019t had any treatment for a few years,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Dr Ngareka Bensemann says there has been a rise in complex cases among teenagers, partially prompting a call for more funding. Photo \/ Marsden Cove Dental<\/p>\n
Dr Shash Patel owns five practices across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions, as well as running two mobile clinics servicing secondary schools. <\/p>\n
He and Bensemann say without their private patients they wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver services to adolescents under the CDA. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very underfunded and the scary part now is that it\u2019s getting harder and harder to just keep the dentists to carry on providing this service. Most are running this service as more of a help to the community because the cost of everything has gone up, but this [the funding] has not kept up,\u201d Patel said. <\/p>\n
Patel also worries about the declining number of dentists delivering the contract. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at it just even from a business point of view then every time children are on those chairs, there are adults that can\u2019t take up that time. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got 15 clinicians in my team and even trying to convince them that we need to keep doing this is getting harder and harder,\u201d Patel said. <\/p>\n
In the 2025 funding review, Health New Zealand did not accept the report\u2019s findings, as it did not \u201cagree with some of the assumptions and methodology\u201d. <\/p>\n
It offered a 3% rise to CDA rates, which the Dental Association rejected and took Health New Zealand to mediation, where it asked for a review of the contract. <\/p>\n
Excell said Health New Zealand never told them what it disputed within the report. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the statistics in the report we got from Statistics New Zealand. We hired an independent consultant from Maven Group to put that report together,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
New Zealand Dental Association President Dr Dave Excell has been raising concerns around funding. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
When asked what exactly it disagreed with, Health New Zealand did not answer the question, instead saying it would convey why it disagreed to the NZDA through its established channels if asked. <\/p>\n
Health New Zealand director living well Deborah Woodley said a review of the oral health services for children and young people will take place this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe oral health services review will provide an opportunity to review models of care, and the funding of community-based oral health services from 0-17 years.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, she said the intent of the review is to provide recommendations within the current funding and policy settings. <\/p>\n
Excell isn\u2019t hopeful the review will create meaningful change. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you really reviewing it [the CDA] if you aren\u2019t looking at the funding?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
NZDA met with Health Minister Simeon Brown in November to share the report and raise concerns around the lack of CDA funding. <\/p>\n
Brown said he expects Health New Zealand to engage constructively with stakeholders, including NZDA, and to consider all relevant information as they work to ensure children and young people continue to receive quality oral healthcare. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have asked Health New Zealand for further advice on the issues raised in the NZDA report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Troy Matich is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, working from Parliament\u2019s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2025, previously working for RNZ as a producer for Morning Report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It claimed the CDA contract was being underfunded by about $60m annually, stating the 19 treatments covered by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1443,806,38143,27056,10709,1566,535,131455,11662,4975,134,527,5812,130,111,139,69,6293,1136,104249,17145,3170,17399,35836,16740,5163,672,1361,2766,8238,159788,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-287196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-as","10":"tag-charging","11":"tag-clinic","12":"tag-concerns","13":"tag-contract","14":"tag-dental","15":"tag-dentists","16":"tag-difference","17":"tag-free","18":"tag-health","19":"tag-healthcare","20":"tag-make","21":"tag-more","22":"tag-new-zealand","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-patients","26":"tag-private","27":"tag-provides","28":"tag-raising","29":"tag-scheme","30":"tag-shortfall","31":"tag-strain","32":"tag-subsidise","33":"tag-teen","34":"tag-teens","35":"tag-that","36":"tag-treatment","37":"tag-under","38":"tag-underfunding","39":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}