Дантист из Окленда переехал в сельский район Северного острова, чтобы восполнить острый дефицит врачей

Ask Chris Leishman why he gave up his dental practice in Herne Bay and moved to Dargaville – a town he’d never set foot in – and the answer is simple. “I just feel needed,” he says. “Auckland doesn’t need any more dentists. It felt like I was a bit “I just feel needed,” he says. “Auckland doesn’t need any more dentists. It felt like I was a bit pointless down there.” The Kaipara district in Northland was left without oral health services for almost two years after its Dargaville clinic closed in 2022. Before Leishman was hired to fill the gap, there were stories of locals pulling out teeth with pliers. The nearest dental clinic was in Whangārei, almost an hour’s drive away. Rural communities across the country are experiencing a severe shortage of healthcare workers, including GPs, hospital doctors, physiotherapists and midwives. Research published last month revealed patients were travelling six hours to receive specialist dental care as there is no onsite Gisborne Hospital dental department. A recent New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA) survey found it takes an average of 24 weeks to recruit a dentist, with one in four vacancies unfilled for more than 40 weeks. In regional areas, finding a dental hygienist can take almost a year. Kaipara couple Julie and Rodney Cotton were so concerned about their community’s plight that they bought the abandoned Dargaville clinic in 2023 and began advertising for a dentist. After an intensive international recruitment campaign failed to find a single candidate, they put out a call on national television. Leishman, who had owned a Herne Bay dental practice for more than 20 years, contacted the Cottons and drove up to Dargaville to meet them. The small township, with its wide streets unclogged by traffic, reminded him of Henderson when he lived out west in the late 90s. “It’s a very different city now,” he says. “I thought [the Cottons] had good intentions and I was very impressed that you can just walk into a cafe and get a milkshake. You can’t do that in Auckland any more. And I do like a strawberry milkshake.” However, it’s been a bumpy ride since Leishman joined Kaipara Dental two years ago. The low socio-economic region, which has a high percentage of superannuitants and beneficiaries, has been hard hit by the cost-of-living crisis. Many of his patients haven’t seen a dentist for years and present with significant decay or such advanced gum disease that they need multiple extractions. In Northland, dental issues are a leading cause of hospitalisations for children under 5. At Whangārei Hospital, emergency doctors frequently treat facial cellulitis, a serious infection often caused by bacteria from untreated tooth decay. The Dargaville clinic has been so inundated that no new enrolments are being accepted and there’s a wait of several weeks for an appointment. Yet despite the obvious need, Kaipara Dental was again on the verge of closure in March, with the owners losing money and struggling to attract and retain good support staff. Faced with the prospect of the community being cut adrift once more, Leishman decided to go all in, taking over the practice from the Cottons. “I had the choice of becoming the new owner or being unemployed and cancelling six weeks’ worth of patients,” Leishman says. “It really was a no-brainer to me.” The Cottons declined to comment when approached by the Weekend Herald. For Leishman, running the clinic himself makes it a more financially viable proposition; previously, he was paid on commission. Currently negotiating a bank loan to buy the clinic’s dental equipment from the Cottons, he’s hired a new receptionist and a dental assistant. Space in the 1930s building is also rented as a satellite medical centre staffed by a GP team from Maungatapere three days a week. Recruiting a hygienist is next on Leishman’s wishlist, but he knows that will be a challenge. The previous hygienist lasted a year before moving to Christchurch to be closer to her family. A second dentist hired by the clinic’s previous owners straight out of dental school also left because his wife, an engineer, couldn’t find a job. According to Health NZ data, there’s a nationwide shortfall of 380 dentists and dental or oral surgeons – 15.1% of the current need. Overseas-trained dental specialists make up half of the workforce. To meet demand, NZDA chief executive Dr Mo Amso has called for the intake at the University of Otago’s dental school, the country’s only training programme, to be increased from 60 to 90. However, many graduates are lured overseas by higher wages. In Australia, an entry-level dentist typically earns $25,000 more per year than in New Zealand. Salaries in the United Kingdom are higher, too. Leishman would like to see the Government support an incentive scheme for rural dentists, perhaps bonding new graduates in return for paying a percentage of their university fees. He also supports a sugar tax on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages to target high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The NZDA report found 43% of children in New Zealand had some tooth decay before their fifth birthday. The son of an orthodontic specialist in the United Kingdom, Leishman moved to New Zealand with his parents in the late 80s. His first job after graduating was with the Peoples Centre, a low-cost health hub in Auckland. He later spent a few years working in London, where he met his now ex-wife. Kaipara Dental’s postcode isn’t as flash as his former premises in Herne Bay, a block from the upmarket restaurants and shops on Ponsonby Rd. Now, he has a Christian youth centre on one side and RSA clubrooms across the road, next to a movie theatre housed in the old Municipal Chambers, built in 1923. In Dargaville, there’s little cosmetic dentistry of the kind he used to do in Auckland. Mostly, it’s bread-and-butter work, fixing broken teeth and filling cavities. While he can understand why younger dentists are attracted to the buzz of a main city, he’s settled into Northland, where the township has made him welcome. Last year, one of his neighbours invited him over for Christmas. It’s a quiet life, but Leishman has no regrets about stepping aside from the competitive Auckland market that’s become dominated by large corporate networks. “I didn’t train as a dentist to be selling my services or big-ticket items,” he says. “It’s a nice little community here, and you can concentrate on doing what we were trained for – doing the best thing for your patient.” Joanna Wane is a senior lifestyle writer with an interest in social issues and the arts.