'How's this going to work?' - Patient advocate horrified at broken equipment in dental clinic

Sitting with her head tipped back awkwardly in what looks like a waiting room chair, the dentist's tools in her mouth, Diana Ayling thinks about how undignified it all feels.

A broken dental chair sits nearby.

According to the dentist assessing her, this particular chair - part of the Oral Health Clinic at Auckland Hospital - had been out of action for more than a year.

It was June, and Ayling - a patient advocate as well as a patient - was well into a round of radiotherapy for her third bout of head and neck cancer.

As part of that care, she explained to RNZ, patients were regularly checked by the dental team.

The oral health clinic at Auckland Hospital had continued to carry out oral screening assessments for some patients, despite the lack of chair.

The moment she stepped into the room and saw the broken equipment, Ayling said she thought "well, how's this going to work?"

The resulting check was "not dignified" for anyone, she said.

In a statement, Health NZ said the hospital-based clinic had been closed since March 2025.

Dr Michael Shepherd, group director of operations Te Toka Tumai, said the majority of dental care was now delivered at Greenlane Clinical Centre and other community sites, as well as temporarily using clinic space at the Starship Children's Hospital for adults.

However, it had been possible to continue assessments for radiotherapy patients "safely and effectively without a specialised dental chair", Shepherd said.

Work on a new dental clinic was underway, requiring "significant" investment in new equipment and refurbishment.

Construction was expected to begin this month, with the clinic operational by September 2026 and fully completed, including refurbishment of the existing space, by late October.