10:23 am today
The head of the dental association says some clinics are waiting as long as a year to employ a dentist, and are having to close temporarily or even permanently.
NZDA chief executive Dr Mo Amso told Nine to Noon the number of dentists coming through the country's only programme at Otago University was not enough, and needed to be increased from 60 to 90 per year.
He said the struggle to get dentists was also reflected in the wider dental clinic workforce with hygienists being hard to find.
"Quite a number of practices in New Zealand do encounter challenges with staffing and recruitment," he said.
