Dental care on the election agenda as the UCSA attempts to plug the gap

The UCSA offers subsidies for students dental care, but how many students are actually using it?

Dental care is again on the political agenda with the cost of visiting a dentist a major barrier for thousands of kiwis.

The Labour Party has announced that it will expand free basic dental care to under 30-year-olds, describing it as the first step towards universal dental care.

“Children and young people currently have access to free basic dental services but as soon as they turn 18, they face big bills and often drop out of the system,” Labour leader Chris Hipkins said.

For students the barrier to accessing dental care is particularly difficult with several students that Canta spoke to saying that since their 18th birthday, they had not seen a dentist due to the cost

University of Canterbury Student Association (UCSA) is attempting to plug the gap by offering a dental subsidy scheme in partnership with Ilam dental and Moriarty dental.

The UCSA offers up to $385 of dental subsidies a year to each student, bringing the cost of a checkup from $120 down to $50. The $70 from the check-up and hygiene service will be deducted first, leaving $315 to cover any remaining treatment.

To apply for a subsidy, the UCSA puts out a limited number of online forms each week, the maximum available capacity is often reached within 15 minutes – 1 hour of the form being released.

19-year-old UC student Eva Gibson told Canta about how the UCSA dental subsidy helped her access the dental care that she had been putting off.

“I knew I needed to get [a checkup] and would have to bite the bullet, but I think the subsidy was helpful as it was so much more motivating, I wouldn't have to pay the full price for dental work,” she said.

During the appointment she found out that her teeth needed more work than she expected, something she wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t gone in.

“My fillings would have been $200 each without the voucher, and $50 on top of that, so brought it down from $450 to $250.”

Her dentist referred her to the orthodontist for more treatment which Gibson says will likely be a huge expense, one which she said she was grateful her family could help her cover.

“I’m lucky that my family still will help me out with the orthodontist costs, I don’t think they’ll expect me to do that all on my own, but it is hard on students and on families, like we just don’t have money to just throw around on teeth.”

If the treatment plan is outside what a student can afford, a Subsidised Dental Grant of up to $2000 is also offered by the UCSA. 

Other dental subsidies available to students include StudyLink dental assistance where students can apply for up to $1,000 for dental appointments at any clinic.

Gibson encouraged other students to use the subsidy saying that it was worth it.

“If you don’t go, you don’t know. If I had waited any longer those fillings would have probably been just sitting there getting worse, rotting my teeth, so better to get it done earlier before it starts to cause major problems.”