A Hawke's Bay iwi is hoping to expand its two weeks free dental care initiative to the wider region.
Ngati Pahauwera have partnered with Lumino The Dentists to give free dental care to cash-strapped residents of Wairoa over a two week period each year.
This year the initiative has seen unprecedented demand.
"We are totally oversubscribed. I think over 100 people are already booked for this week we need to keep it quiet that we are coming or we are inundated," Tony Dey of Lumino The Dentists told 1 NEWS.
Ministry of Health figures show only 54 per cent of Kiwis visit the dentist when they think it's urgent, citing cost as the main barrier.
"We see stuff that we would call it late presentation problems that have been around awhile that if dental care was more easily accessible we may not have got to that point," Mr Dey said.
Dental care is only free nationwide for those under the age of 18 and the iwi behind the programme, Ngati Pahauwera, would like to see it extended to include the elderly and solo parents.
"There needs to be some kind of subsidy for certain categories of people," chairperson of Ngati Pahauwera Toro Waaka said.
For now they're working to extend the annual programme to the wider Hawke's Bay, to keep smiles bright across the region
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