The Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council of New Zealand have released a book titled Oranga Waha, which means oral health research priorities for Maori, and it talks about the issues related to the priorities for improvement of the current poor health of many Maori.

Setting out an agenda to determine the best pathways for developing improved oral and dental health for Maori in the coming years, this book was launched at the Copthorne Hotel, Waitangi, during the annual conference of Te Ao Marama, the New Zealand Maori Dental Association.

Vilma Hape from Ngati Pahauwera Hauora, one of the research partners, said, “We didn’t realize how bad it was for some of our whanau. Some people hadn’t accessed dental care since school for cost and other reasons. People talked about resorting to drastic measures to deal with the pain from rotten teeth”.

Experts have always been linking poor oral health with the general health problems such as diabetes, lung diseases and heart disease.

Previous researches on the same issue suggest that New Zealanders spend about $1 billion a year on oral and dental health, out of which only $178 million is publicly funded.