11 Sep 2023

No dental care near Waihau Bay, so some pull out own teeth

From First Up, 5:52 am on 11 September 2023

We all remember wiggling our teeth out and putting them under the pillow for the tooth fairy - but this story you're about to hear isn't so sweet.

Residents in a rural town on the East Cape have taken to pulling out their own teeth with pliers because dental clinics are too far away, petrol is too expensive and getting an appointment quickly is difficult.

Our reporter Leonard Powell went for an election road trip around the East Cape - here's his story from his first stop in the the sleepy Waihau Bay, 150 kilometres from Whakatāne.