17 June 2008 Media Statement

South Auckland dental clinic to be rebuilt

Associate Minister of Health Mita Ririnui officiated the celebration to announce the rebuilding of the Buckland Road Dental Clinic in South Auckland today.

The Buckland Road Dental Clinic has provided services to Māngere and South Auckland residents since its establishment in the 1960’s but after a tragic arson attack in April 2007, the buildings were totally fire gutted and had to be demolished.

To mark the commencement of rebuilding, Minister Ririnui was invited to turn the ground and bury a Mauri stone as a symbol of vitality and new life on the proposed building sight for the dental service.

“The rebuilding and redevelopment of this clinic is a golden opportunity to make the Governments Vision of oral health services a reality. We have a chance to build here a service that will promote good oral health for all South Aucklanders – and especially the regions young people.”

“The new sight will be located amongst a local kohanga reo, local kura kaupapa and local mainstream schools from primary through to secondary school – all of which will be able to benefit from the easy accessibility of the service.”

The development of the clinic is extremely important for the area, where children living in south Auckland, predominantly of Maori and Pacific Island descent, at five years of age typically have twice the level of dental decay of children living in other areas.

The DHBs Community and Public Health Advisory Committee have a particular interest in improving oral health for the district and have strongly supported this project, as have a number of other community focus groups.

It is expected that the building of the centre will be completed in the near future.

ENDS

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