Community Oral health and Dental Services
Oral Health Services (OHS) includes:
- The Community Oral Health Service (COHS) provides free school based clinics for 0-13 year olds, including all the adolescents that attend Wairoa College up to the age of 18; and
- The Hospital Dental Service where access is based around the low income, medically compromised and special need client groups. .
There are seven school-based dental clinics, one community shared service and six mobile dental clinics as well as the hospital dental department for low income, medically compromised and special needs children.
Hospital dental services provide oral health care for:
- People needing urgent dental care as part of their medical or surgical care while in hospital. Children referred by COHS;
- Adults referred by doctors or other health professionals for dental care, because of health problems and/or disabilities;
- Within capacity adults holding a community services card referred by a doctor, dentist or other registered health professional.
How to access hospital dental services
- The service is accessed on a referral only basis.
- Referrals are received from registered health professionals, most commonly other hospital departments, yoru family doctor or general medical practitioner dentists and dental therapists.
- Referals are triaged and people must be in one of the above groups to be accepted into the service.
- Clinics for hospital dental services occur in Villa 3 at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and at Napier Health.
