The University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka welcomes the Government’s decision, announced today, to increase funding for domestic dental students by 12 places from 2027.
The current intake cap of 60 domestic student per year has been in place for more than a decade, and it is timely to increase it now to 72 places, says Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Health Sciences, Associate Professor Megan Gibbons.
“It is well recognised that there is a shortage of dentists within New Zealand, and this is due to a retiring workforce and a growing population. Health NZ and the New Zealand Dental Association have both recognised the need in recent years,” Associate Professor Gibbons says.
“The University of Otago is the sole provider of dentistry training in New Zealand, and this investment in training more dentists is the most appropriate way to address the national dentist shortage.
“We have strong demand for places in our dental programme, and training takes place at the University of Otago’s main dental teaching facility in Dunedin, and at its specialist dental training facility in South Auckland.”