In a week, Southern’s dental team treated between eight to nine patients a day making headway into its waiting list using Mobile Health's surgical services truck.
The bright blue truck was hard to miss parked outside Southland Hospital between 21 to 25 October 2024.
Southern Principal Dental Officer Tim Mackay is happy with the number of treatments completed for patients who require general anaesthesia.
Tim says treatments for patients included treating abscesses, broken teeth and dental decay.
The Mobile Health surgical services truck travels around New Zealand on a five-week cycle.
Inside is a fully equipped operating theatre designed and built to be used for a wide range of day surgery.
For a virtual tour of the unit go to Mobile Surgical Unit - Mobile Health
As a dental surgeon, Tim always encourages good dental care, and if a rural town does not have fluoridated water (which can help reduce the severity of decay), he says children and adults should be using fluoridated toothpaste and brushing their teeth twice a day.
Image caption: Health NZ Southern Principal Dental Officer Tim Mackay, left, with Mobile Health Anaesthetist Dr Laurie Wheeler, centre, and Mobile Health Anaesthetic Technician Chris Heath, right.
